Resto Shaman Artifact Intro, Legion Subtlety Changes, Tweets, Hearthstone Update

[chaud]

Feb 2nd Minor Patch, Frost Marauder DH Guide

Hearthstone Season 23 Begins, Popular January 2016 Constructed Decks - Budget Friendly, Firebat Leaves Team Archon

Li Ming Now Available & Feb 2th Patch Notes

Legion - Restoration Shaman Artifact Intro
The Restoration Shaman intro rewards you with the Caduceus of Azshara. You can see the the trail the effect leaves in the last few minutes of the video. The start of this intro is the same as the other Shaman intros, so skip to 4:10 to see the Restoration specific part.

Patch 6.2.3 Hotfixes - February 2

Class
Monk

• Windwalker
  
  • Fixed an issue where elemental spirits summoned by Storm, Earth, and Fire mirroring Rising Sun Kick in PvP combat dealt less damage than intended.

Legion - Subtlety Rogue Changes

The point of alpha testing has always been to test and get feedback. That's especially valuable and needed on ideas that are hard to test internally, and ones that need to be experienced to judge.

As such, we sometimes will go forward with testing something that people respond negatively to on paper, to see if that response remains the same once it's actually been tried. That can be concerning, and feel like we're not listening or caring about your feedback, but it couldn't be any further from the truth. We hear you, loud and clear.

The idea of a Rogue that got to do the full Opener-Builder-Finisher-Vanish cycle repeatedly was an extremely compelling fantasy to us. But it also was a scary one, from a balance point of view. Because of that, we were quite timid about it, reducing the stealth to not be actual stealth, taking away more CC to compensate for the potential of many Cheap Shots, initially taking away Shadowstep to compensate for incredible mobility potential of Shadowstrike, and felt tentatively OK with the reduced flexibility of the new Shadow Dance due to its sheer uptime. Additionally, there were some bugs and tuning issues in the currently live alpha build that make Subtlety seem worse than it is, such as Nightblade doing less damage than Eviscerate, which we'll get fixed.

Feedback has been clear. The core issue is that the Opener-Builder-Finisher-Vanish cycle doesn't feel distinct or special; Shadowstrike feels remarkably like Backstab and it's easy to not even feel a difference. The upside isn't there, and the downsides are many and strong. And, the gameplay is not engaging enough overall.

So, a future alpha build (not sure yet if it'll be the next one, or the one after that) will have significant changes to Subtlety. It'll include things like Shadow Dance returning to being an active ability, the addition of a new opener, and the return of some more CC. Stay tuned for full details when the build is ready.

Thanks for all your constructive feedback, and we look forward to reading more of it when you are able to try the next version.

Yeah. Angsty moments aside, this feels like a pretty nice victory for the alpha testing process as a whole. This was the right time to test a major spec-gameplay change like this, and the quality of player feedback in this forum (as well as a couple of threads in other public venues) was high. Personally I much prefer having had a chance to playtest a different Sub design in this sandbox over only seeing and reacting theoretical changes on paper. And I think it's helpful that everybody, both playtesters and onlookers alike, got to see that testing and feedback play out.
I think this is a great sentiment, and I hope it spreads. Pre-release (alpha/beta/PTR) is the perfect place for us to experiment with uncertain changes, and it works best when players trust in that process. This should be seen as an example of a successful testing process, not a 'victory of rogues over designers'. We *all* win by trying out new things, even if those tests produce less than favorable results. If we never try out wild or scary changes, the game never evolves into something much greater or more exciting. I hope this helps players see that there is wisdom in responding to concerning-sounding changes, not with vitriol and doomsaying, but rather with testing, evaluating, and giving constructive feedback. Thanks to all who have done so.

Multistrike in PvP

So, we’ve been looking into this issue, and there appears to be some confusion. Here’s some clarification:

First off, Multistrike grants two entirely separate chances in PvE, and only one chance in PvP. It sounds like you understand that already, but it’s important to keep in mind when you’re working out the math. Two separate 68% chances could result in 0 Multistrikes. If you simply multiply that 68% by 2, you get one single 136% chance, which is not how the system works. Obviously, this doesn’t apply in PvP where you would only have that single 68% chance, but it seemed worth clarifying.

Secondly, the extra Multistrike effect on Lava Burst is a third, additional roll based on your Crit chance, NOT an additive increase to your other Multistrike chances. So, if you have 68% Multistrike and 13% Crit, casting Lava Burst at a target dummy would give you two 68% chances, and one 13% chance. It would not give you two 81% chances. (Similarly, in PvP, you would have one 68% chance and one 13% chance.)

All that said, we still figured it was worth investigating to make sure there wasn’t anything screwy going on. So, we set up an Orc Elemental Shaman with 100% Multistrike and 12% Crit, and had him cast 3221 Lava Bursts at a Dwarf Monk. Those casts resulted in 3589 Multistrikes, which is extremely close (only about half a percent off) the projected mathematical average of 3608.

Based on that, as well as a few other cursory spot checks, it looks like Multistrike is working properly in PvP. I suspect that what you’re seeing is just due to the small sample size – it’s certainly well within the expected variance for that number of casts with that level of Multistrike. Hopefully this helps clear things up.

Whatever did the poor dwarf do to deserve so many lava bursts...
He knows what he did.

Blue Tweets

Please say removal of knockback on Thunderstorm for Ele is a tooltip error.
It is just a tooltip bug! Knockback is still there. (Celestalon)

Do you plan to keep Timewalking in Legion? ie. can we still obtain those cool mounts in Legion?
Timewalking is a permanent addition to the game, and we look forward to continuing to expand it going forward. (WarcraftDevs)

Hearthstone - A New Way to Play
Big changes are coming to Hearthstone! Card changes, more deck slots, new game modes, and more!

Heroes of the Storm - Lunar Festival
Blizzard released a nice video for Lunar Festival in Heroes of the Storm.

[Wishblade]

Ah, always lovely with a bunch of neat news.

[Tedj]

Did.... Blizzard just.. Did they just acted like a proper gamedesigning company? This has made my day. No scratch that, this has made my week. My month. Actually my life, since I main sub rogue since TBC and I was sad with it's state, and thought it to be final - which was what Blizzard got us used to.

+1 Blizzard.. +1 boys, I'm proud, my love for you grows once more!

[Balir]

Yeah - about that Alpha testing of Brewmaster Monks and Prot Pallies.......

[TheDeeGee]

GG putting Skins outside of Bundle in Shop for Full Price.

Feking Bundles...

[Kryn]

That waiting line for Arthas! Good one HoTs.

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Amazing that blizzard wants to recycle content. What did we say would happen? Fucking hell

[ornichi]

So Blizz are keeping sub mostly unchanged. I just hope it won't be top dps spec, as in WoD, since that will make all rogues level only Sub artifact as priority. But what if I want to play Outlaw and to have an Outlaw artifact, but still maintan compatible dps? Hopefully they tune dps meters to the point, where you have a choice and not required to play the spec with best output.

[risingforce]

Yeah - about that Alpha testing of Brewmaster Monks and Prot Pallies.......

Likewise, waiting with great anticipation!

[Mhyroth]

So Blizz are keeping sub mostly unchanged. I just hope it won't be top dps spec, as in WoD, since that will make all rogues level only Sub artifact as priority. But what if I want to play Outlaw and to have an Outlaw artifact, but still maintan compatible dps? Hopefully they tune dps meters to the point, where you have a choice and not required to play the spec with best output.

Wait. You're using the words "balance" and "Blizzard" in 1 sentence ? Hold your horses everyone ! We have a winner.

[ItachiZaku]

I want to know why 3500 lava bursts didn't kill that dwarf... such is the state of elemental in PVP

[ornichi]

Wait. You're using the words "balance" and "Blizzard" in 1 sentence ? Hold your horses everyone ! We have a winner.

i don't? lol

[Raynre Valence]

I want to know why 3500 lava bursts didn't kill that dwarf... such is the state of elemental in PVP

I laughed, but then I was sad.

Yeah - about that Alpha testing of Brewmaster Monks and Prot Pallies.......

My feral continues to sit here confused and alone.

[KrotosTheTank]

Yeah - about that Alpha testing of Brewmaster Monks and Prot Pallies.......

It's ok, I'd personally rather take no open testing yet with hope, over the "direction" I've seen so far for Prot Warrior...

[Deleted]

Tell me when they finish "alpha mode" on player models.

[Oozlz]

More MTG going into hearthstone!

[Jackishi]

That cinematic was more adorable than I thought it would be.

[Deleted]

Did.... Blizzard just.. Did they just acted like a proper gamedesigning company? This has made my day. No scratch that, this has made my week. My month. Actually my life, since I main sub rogue since TBC and I was sad with it's state, and thought it to be final - which was what Blizzard got us used to.

+1 Blizzard.. +1 boys, I'm proud, my love for you grows once more!

Sorry, but this comment is really stupid. Saying that Blizzard is finally acting like a "proper game-designing company" because they give in to the complaints of little kids who love to play the most OP class/spec in the game, is just a desperate attempt to justify the tears you shed when you thought you weren't gonna be able to compete because your spec would no longer be OP. People didn't even test the spec with PvP talents in an actual PVP environment and they were already saying the spec was dead. This is why the game will never ever evolve and actually become the game we want it to be. There's always people who dislike a chance and they will always complain and cry LOUDLY about it and Blizzard will act like "a proper game-designing company" and give in to that minority.

- - - Updated - - -

Amazing that blizzard wants to recycle content. What did we say would happen? Fucking hell

This doesn't even make sense. I don't even know what you're trying to say. Try using full sentences.

[chillshock]

Still no option for no-magic-class in legion. Meh. I keep coming back, reading news, hopeing for ONE spec and class to not be magic-wielding. I guess that's something for the past.

[Deleted]

Heroes of the Storm is getting better and better