May 1 Hotfixes, Children's Week 2017, Blue Posts, Hearthstone Reaches 70M Players

[chaud]

Three Free Un'Goro Packs to Celebrate 70 Million Hearthstone Players!

Patch 7.2 Hotfixes - May 1

Classes

• Demon Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Bladedancer's Grace now correctly improves the critical strike damage of Death Sweep.
    
  
  
• Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Fixed an issue where Guardian Spirit sometimes fails to trigger on fatal damage.
    
  
  
• Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Purge mana cost reduced by 20%.
    

Dungeons and Raids

• All raid adjustments will take effect with restarts in each region.

The Nighthold

• Grand Magistrix Elisande
  
  • Slow Time Zones now last 70 seconds on all difficulties (was 60 seconds).
    
  • Fast Time Zones now last 35 seconds on all difficulties (was 30 seconds).
    
  • Damage from Arcanetic Ring reduced to 3 Million on Mythic difficulty (was 3.6 Million).
    
  • Elisande health decreased 5% on Mythic difficulty.
    

• Gul’dan
  
  • Gul'dan's health has been reduced by 5% on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties.
    
  • Fel Lord Kuraz'mal and D'zorykx the Trapper's health has been reduced by 10% on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties.
    
  • Inquisitor Vethriz's health has been reduced by 10% on Normal and Heroic difficulties.
    
  • Azagrim, Beltheris, and Dalvengyr's health has been reduced by 10% on Heroic difficulty.
    
  • Chaos Seed missile travel speed decreased slightly on Mythic difficulty.
    
  • Parasitic Wound damage decreased by 10% on Mythic difficulty.
    

Event

• The Children's Week quest "Auchindoun and the Ring of Observance" can now be completed.
  
• Orphan Whistles can now be used in battlegrounds.

Items

• Killing bosses in Cathedral of Eternal Night will now activate the Burden of Power set bonus from Return to Karazhan.

Player versus Player

• “Something Different” now requires 1 Brawl victory to complete (was 3 Brawl completions)
  
• “Something Different” now rewards a Soldier’s Legacy token (was a Glory of the Melee).
  
• Classes
  
  • Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Marksmanship
      
      • Windburst no longer displays ground effects during Arena matches in Blade's Edge Arena.
        
• All PvP class changes below will take effect with maintenance in each Region.
  
  • Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Restoration
      
      • PvP template Mana regeneration reduced by 10%.
        
      • Overgrowth mana cost increased by 33%.
        
      • Deep Rooted now refreshes Rejuvenation, Regrowth, and Wild Growth on targets below 20% health in PvP situations.
        
    
    
  • Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • All specs
      
      • Temporal Shield can no longer be cancelled before its duration expires.
        
    
    
  • Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Mistweaver
      
      • PvP Template Versatility increased by 30%.
        
    
    
  • Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Holy
      
      • Flash Heal healing increased by 60% in PvP situations.
        
    
    
  • Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Demonology
      
      • PvP template Stamina reduced by 15%.
        
      • Soul Skin increases Soul Link's split to 30% in PvP situations (was 40%).
        
    
    
  • Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
    
    • Arms
      
      • Duel's duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 8 seconds).
        
      • Duel's cooldown increased to 60 seconds (was 25 seconds).
        
      • Disarm's duration reduced to 4 seconds (was 6 seconds).
        
      • Disarm's cooldown increased to 45 seconds (was 30 seconds).
        

Children's Week 2017

This year, Children's Week will run from May 1st through May 8th. During this time, players can adopt orphans from capital cities and show them around the world to be rewarded with up to 10 holiday pets.

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Adopt an Orphan or Three
There are several orphans both Horde and Alliance players can adopt during Children's Week, each with individual quests lines to complete. Each quest line has several pets for you to choose from as a reward. Iif you already have all the pets, the Pet Care Package is an alternative reward which contains a variety of pet items.

Horde Orphans
You can adopt the Orcish orphan Grunth from Orphan Matron Battlewail in Orgrimmar and the Blood Elf orphan Salandria from Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City. You can adopt both orphans at the same time and complete their quest simultaneously.

Orcish Orphan - Grunth
In order to pick up Children's Week from Orphan Matron Battlewail in Orgrimmar, you must be level 10 or above. Summon your orphan using the Orcish Orphan Whistle and complete the quest.

Three quests become available once you turn in Children's Week:

• Ridin' the Rocketway - Head to the Southern Rocketway Terminus in Azshara and board the Redhound Two-Seater prototype at the top of the tower.
• The Banshee Queen - Take your orphan to meet Lady Sylvanas Windrunner in the Royal Quarter of the Undercity.
• The Fallen Chieftain - Take your orphan to Red Rocks in Mulgore to visit the funeral pyre of Cairne Bloodhoof.

Once you complete these three quests, two more quests become available:

• You Scream, I Scream… - Purchase Cone of Cold ice cream from Snixx Quickfreeze in the Goblin Slums in Orgrimmar and then share it with your orphan.
• Let's Go Fly a Kite - Purchase a Dragon Kite 2-Pack from Blax Bottlerocket in the Drag in Orgrimmar then use it to fly kites with your orphan.

Once you complete these two quests, the final quest becomes available:

• A Warden of the Horde - Purchase a Foam Sword Rack from Blax Bottlerocket for your orphan then return to Orphan Matron Battlewail.

As a reward, you will be given a choice between a Pet Care Package, Curmudgeon's Payoff, or one of these pets:

• Piglet's Collar - Mr. Wiggles
• Rat Cage - Whisker's the Rat
• Turtle Box - Speedy
• Snail Shell - Scooter the Snail

Blood Elf Orphan - Salandria
In order to pick up Children's Week from Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City, you must be level 60 or above. Summon your orphan using the Blood Elf Orphan Whistle and complete the quest.

Three quests become available once you turn in Children's Week:

• Hch'uu and the Mushroom People - Take your orphan to Sporeggar in Zangamarsh and speak with Hch'uu.
• Visit the Throne of the Elements - Take your orphan to the Throne of the Elements in Nagrand (Outland) and speak to Elemetalist Sharvak.
• A Trip to the Dark Portal - Take your orphan up the steps of the Stair of Destiny to stand before the Dark Portal in Hellfire Peninsula.

Once you complete these three quests, two more quests become available:

• Now, When I Grow Up… - Take your orphan to see the Elite Tauren Chieftain at the Walk of Elders in Silvermoon City.
• Time to Visit the Caverns - Take your orphan to stand before Zaladormu in the middle of the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. Then, purchase a Toy Dragon from Alurmi for her.

Once you complete these two quests, the final quest becomes available:

• Back to the Orphanage - Return to Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City.

As a reward, you will be given a choice between a Pet Care Package or one of the following pets:

• Egbert's Egg - Egbert
• Elekk Training Collar - Peanut
• Sleepy Willy - Willy
• Legs - Legs

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Alliance Orphans
You can adopt the Human orphan Randis from Orphan Matron Nightgale in Stormwind City and the Draenei orphan Dornaa from Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City. You can adopt both orphans at the same time and complete their quest simultaneously.

Human Orphan - Randis
In order to pick up Children's Week from Orphan Matron Nightgale in Stormwind City, you must be level 10 or above. Summon your orphan using the Human Orphan Whistle and complete the quest.

Three quests become available once you turn in Children's Week:

• Cruisin' the Chasm - Travel to Sentinel Hill in Westfall and rent a chopper from Twilber Torquewrench to tour the Raging Chasm with your orphan.
• Malfurion Has Returned! - Take your orphan to meet Malfurion Stormrage in the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus.
• The Biggest Diamond Ever! - Take your orphan to Ironforge and visit King Magni Bronzebeard in Old Ironforge. Talk to Advisor Belgrum when you arrive.

Once you complete these three quests, two more quests become available:

• You Scream, I Scream… - Purchase Cone of Cold ice cream from Hans Coldhearth in the Blue Recluse in Stormwind City and then share it with your orphan.
• Let's Go Fly a Kite - Purchase a Dragon Kite 2-Pack from Craggle Wobbletop in the Trade District in Stormwind City then use it to fly kites with your orphan.

Once you complete these two quests, the final quest becomes available:

• A Warden of the Alliance - Purchase a Foam Sword Rack from Craggle Wobbletop for your orphan then return to Orphan Matron Nightgale.

As a reward, you will be given a choice between a Pet Care Package, Curmudgeon's Payoff or one of these pets:

• Piglet's Collar - Mr. Wiggles
• Rat Cage - Whisker's the Rat
• Turtle Box - Speedy
• Snail Shell - Scooter the Snail

Draenei Orphan - Dornaa
In order to pick up Children's Week from Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City, you must be level 60 or above. Summon your orphan using the Draenei Orphan Whistle and complete the quest.

Three quests become available once you turn in Children's Week:

• Auchindoun and the Ring of Observance - Take your orphan to the meeting stone at the Ring of Observance in the middle of Auchindoun in Terokkar Forrest and help her summon an Alliance Adventurer.
• Jheel is at Aeris Landing! - Take your orphan to Aeris Landing in Nagrand (Outland) and speak with Jheel.
• A Trip to the Dark Portal - Take your orphan up the steps of the Stair of Destiny to stand before the Dark Portal in Hellfire Peninsula.

Once you complete these three quests, three more quests become available:

• The Seat of the Naaru - Take your orphan to stand before O'ros at the bottom of the Seat of the Naaru inside of The Exodar.
• Call on the Farseer - Take your orphan to Farseer Nobundo at the Crystal Hall inside of The Exodar.
• Time to Visit the Caverns - Take your orphan to stand before Zaladormu in the middle of the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. Then purchase a Toy Dragon from Alurmi for her.

Once you complete these two quests, the final quest becomes available:

• Back to the Orphanage - Return to Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City.

As a reward, you will be given a choice between a Pet Care Package or one of the following pets:

• Egbert's Egg - Egbert
• Elekk Training Collar - Peanut
• Sleepy Willy - Willy
• Legs - Legs

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Neutral Orphans
Horde and Alliance players can choose either the Oracle orphan Roo or the Wolvar Orphan Kekek from Orphan Matron Aria in Dalaran (Northrend). You can only choose one orphan per character, so if you want both pets in the same year you can do so with an alt. In order to pick up these quests you must be level 70 or above.

Oracle Orphan - Roo
Talk to Orphan Matron Aria and choose Little Orphan Roo Of The Oracles to receive the Oracle Orphan Whistle. Summon your orphan and you will be offered these quests.

• The Biggest Tree Ever! - Take your orphan to visit Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills.
• The Bronze Dragonshrine - Take your orphan to visit the Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight.
• Playmates! - Take your orphan to visit Winterfin Retreat in Borean Tundra.
• Meeting a Great One - Take your orphan to visit the Etymidian at the Shaper's Terrace in Un'Goro Crater.
• The Dragon Queen - Take your orphan to visit Alexstrasza the Life-Binder at the top of Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight.
• A Trip To The Wonderworks - Purchase a Small Paper Zeppelin from Jepetto Joybuzz in the Wonderworks in Dalaran (Northrend), then throw it to your orphan.

Once you complete these quest, the final quest becomes available:

• Back To The Orphanage - Return to Orphan Matron Aria in Dalaran (Northrend).

The first time you complete this quest on a character, you will be rewarded with the Curious Oracle Hatchling. If you complete it again on the same character, you will be able to choose between a Pet Care Package or a Curmudgeon's Payoff.

Wolvar Orphan - Kekek
Talk to Orphan Matron Aria and choose Little Orphan Kekek Of The Wolvar to receive the Wolvar Orphan Whistle. Summon your orphan and you will be offered these quests.

• Home Of The Bear-Men - Take your orphan to visit Grizzlemaw in Grizzly Hills.
• The Bronze Dragonshrine - Take your orphan to visit the Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight.
• Playmates! - Take your orphan to visit Snowfall Glade in Dragonblight.
• The Dragon Queen - Take your orphan to visit Alexstrasza the Life-Binder at the top of Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight.
• The Mighty Hemet Nesingwary - Take your orphan to visit Hemet Nesingwary at the Nesingwary Base Camp in Sholazar Basin.
• A Visit To The Wonderworks - Purchase a Small Paper Zeppelin from Jepetto Joybuzz in the Wonderworks in Dalaran (Northrend), then throw it to your orphan.

Once you complete these quest, the final quest becomes available:

• Back To The Orphanage - Return to Orphan Matron Aria in Dalaran (Northrend).

The first time you complete this quest on a character, you will be rewarded with the Curious Wolvar Pup. If you complete it again on the same character, you will be able to choose between a Pet Care Package or a Curmudgeon's Payoff.

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Toys
Two toys are available from Blax Bottlerocket in Orgrimmar and Craggle Wobbletop in Stormwind City only during Children's Week. You can only use these toys during the holiday as well.

• Green Balloon - Summon a green balloon. Cost 10 silver.
• Yellow Balloon - Summon a yellow balloon. Cost 10 silver.

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Achievements
Complete the following achievements to complete For The Children which awards you with the title 'Matron' or 'Patron' depending on your character's gender. For The Children is also required for What a Long Strange Trip It's Been that rewards the Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake, so be sure not to skip out if you're going for the mount!

• Home Alone - Use your hearthstone while your orphan is with you.
• Bad Example - Eat a list of sweets while your orphan is watching.
• Daily Chores - Complete five daily quests with your orphan out.
• Aw, Isn't it Cute? - Obtain one of the Children's Week reward pets through questing.
• School of Hard Knocks - Take your orphan into the battlegrounds and complete specific feats.
• Hail To The King, Baby - Defeat King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle with your orphan out.

The only achievement that is not part of the meta is Veteran Nanny.

• Veteran Nanny - Acquire Egbert's Egg, Sleepy Willy, and Elekk Training Collar on one character.

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Blue Posts

Orphan Whistle in Battlegrounds
This was a bug, and should now be resolved.

Let me know if you continue to see that the Whistle is unusable in battlegrounds! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Character Talent Customization
There is nothing "unique" about having to ask the Internet about every single point you spent and hoping the group leader's prefered cookie cutter build was the same as yours.

We may have less options numerically, but in practice we have more choices by a long shot.
There's a bit of an 'illusion' of choice that came with them, and that's really what people hold on to.

When folks say, "Oh, but you could make a unique build" - could you? Shockadin wasn't unique, for example, there were tons of them running around, all following the same guide that they read online. I do agree that it made people feel like they had more choice, but most of that was filling in passives to move down the tree which isn't super exciting.

I think there are benefits to both styles - and, yeah, we still have cookie cutter builds today, but its something we try to be more aware of generally - but its hard to avoid there always being a "best" set of talents.

Thing is Ornyx, nothing has changed in this regard. There is still an illusion of choice in many talent builds (feral being a glaring example of this for max dps). If you're not using the max dps build in any class / spec.. you're sub optimal.
I think that's true - and wasn't trying to say otherwise. As said, there are obviously still build guides, and there are definitely 'best' talent choices out there.

It's something the class design team is constantly working on. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hearthstone Reaches 70 Million Players
Hot on the heels of the news that Overwatch has reached 30 Million players, the Hearthstone team announced that they have hit 70 million players!

It’s a good thing that there’s always room for one more, because the tavern has now welcomed over 70 Million players! On top of that, with Journey to Un'Goro, Hearthstone had more players playing together on the same day—around the whole world—than at any point in its history!

The Next Round’s on US!

We’re humbled and grateful that so many players have chosen to join us for some Hearthstone fun. As our way of saying thanks, starting today through the end of May, everyone who logs in will receive three free Journey to Un’Goro card packs. Yup! Everyone! Even new players! Just log in to claim your bonus packs!

We look forward to sharing many more years of Hearthstone with you. Hold on to your mug, and let’s find out where the journey will take us, together!

[Shirofune]

Salandria's the most cute thing ever created.

I want to keep her whistle forever

The letter you get from her after completing her quest chain telling she's enrolling the Blood Knights under Lady Liadrin's care hits me right in the feels (ex Blood Knight RPer here)

[Eleccybubb]

So Hearthstone is 3 years old and Overwatch 1 year and in 1/3 of the time of WoW they managed to have a total of 100 million unique players across both games? Pretty damn impressive. At this rate Hearthstone looks set to overtake WoW in unique accounts.

[elvesrus]

Where is the "Yes, but only to get the Hearthsteed" option?

[Appelgren]

Warrior nerfs. Fking finally!

[amythist]

So Hearthstone is 3 years old and Overwatch 1 year and in 1/3 of the time of WoW they managed to have a total of 100 million unique players across both games? Pretty damn impressive. At this rate Hearthstone looks set to overtake WoW in unique accounts.

the challenge there is how many of those unique accounts are actually very active though I mean (at time of comment) the poll on here showed something like 60% of the people had played but were no longer active, and as a f2p game it's really easy to try it, not like it and drop, but that still shows up as a "unique account"

[Eleccybubb]

the challenge there is how many of those unique accounts are actually very active though I mean (at time of comment) the poll on here showed something like 60% of the people had played but were no longer active, and as a f2p game it's really easy to try it, not like it and drop, but that still shows up as a "unique account"

Oh I'm not denying that. But 70 million people in 3 years have at least tried the game. It is a pretty impressive feat.

[Jasper Kazai]

Another year, another holiday with no update. They already have pandaren children models in game, might as well put them to use...

I only ever loaded up Hearthstone to get the mount from it. I'm not a fan of those types of card games at all. I'll be the first to admit it's largely because I suck at them. And I don't like them enough to practice at them.

[Alopex Major]

Registered for the mount and then uninstalled. Not a fun experience for me, will never touch it again.

[Hotmail]

I'm pretty much sold on the current talent system. I mean, what's left to fix? Sure, you still have Cookie Cutter M+ AoE, Cookie Cutter PvP, and Cookie Cutter All Purpose Raid setups, but that's at least as many viable builds as we ever had back in WOTLK, when the trees were so damn huge that even the devs were getting scared of adding more talents.

As a perk of this incarnation, you can always switch to that situational talent that will give you an edge against a weird mechanic or an overpowered PvP comp. It's come a long way since MoP.

With that being said, the Shockadin spec was the reason why many rolled a Paladin in the first place, so it shouldn't be discounted as merely being a rose-tinted trend. The fantasy of being a plate nuker is still somewhat absent from the game, even today. Isn't WoW at its strongest when the prospect of trying out another class is just as interesting as doing more content on your main? You definitely had that feeling going with a spec like Shockadin.

[ImpTaimer]

I can't really understand where all the development money goes. Raising their paychecks? Hiring friends and family to brown-nose / circlejerk? Metzen's pension?

All that bragging about a bigger team and they still couldn't afford to port WoW (or D3) to SC2 when some "basement nerd" can essentially port the game onto the SC2 Editor on their free time (and then get cease and desisted)?

Are the devs seriously bummed they have to do their job for more than a few hours a day, possibly pushing into weekends and holidays?

[Deleted]

I dabbled a bit in Hearthstone, but stopped to play after I got the promo mount. Similar with HotS. Not my kind of games. I would love to have some kind of Civilization in the WoW setting.

[MasterHamster]

All that bragging about a bigger team and they still couldn't afford to port WoW (or D3) to SC2 when some "basement nerd" can essentially port the game onto the SC2 Editor on their free time (and then get cease and desisted)?

Or maybe, just maybe, they have no real urge to do it.

[Ontis]

Bladedancer's Grace now correctly improves the critical strike damage of Death Sweep.

How'bout you sell us another Betatest version for the same hefty price, lads?
You didn't bother testing those FANCY BRAND NEW LOOT2.0 TALENT NODES™. You didn't bother testing those raid bosses you've 'patched' via 7.2.0 (ohai Elisande). You didn't bother testing those class challenges at all (I had to do mine on the first day while suffering from three major bugs including one that had the same origin with abovementioned Elisande bug). Pardon me for asking, but what DID you bother about?

[Deleted]

Well i got to play Hearthstone in order to get the mount. I had never played card games before . To my surprise i got very excited. I said to myself wow that's a cool game i can play forever. And then i got my mount and uninstalled it immediately. I decided that my wow addiction is enough for me. I don't need another 1

[Korru]

I would play Hearthstone again but they added some bs to force you to play the AI 3 times.

but...

“Something Different” now requires 1 Brawl victory to complete (was 3 Brawl completions)

Any Alliance players here angry about this change?

[Arvandor]

"I think there are benefits to both styles - and, yeah, we still have cookie cutter builds today, but its something we try to be more aware of generally - but its hard to avoid there always being a "best" set of talents."

one thing is more inportant..

have FUN with your build and talents!

[Deleted]

Thanks Blizzard!
2 legendary on one pack! <3