Alliance Pandaren Intro, WoWDB Advanced Tooltips, Patch 4.3.4 Notes and Hotfixes

[Boubouille]

Diablo 3 - Unlock #4 - Dev Diary 3, Monk Sigil, Blizzard Music, Blue Posts, Christina Sims, the Female Monk

Alliance Pandaren Introduction
After leveling a new Pandaren character the player must choose a faction to leave The Wandering Isle. After selecting a faction you meet with the faction leader to learn a little bit more about the faction.

WoWDB Update - Advanced Tooltips
We're progressing on WoWDB and even if it's still far from finished, we just climbed the first step toward improving how we work on MMO-Champion: advanced tooltips!

They're basically the same thing as regular tooltips but with more information when possible. Obviously we're not gathering data from users yet and we will start doing so in a few weeks when the beta looks a little more stable, but as soon as we do we will be expanding the information readily available to users.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://static-azeroth.cursecdn.com/current/js/syndication/tt.js"></script>

We're very considerate (yes, we are!) and also took into account that some people might not like the new tooltips, that's why we're giving you the choice! If you want to control the tooltip type for each spell, you can add "?simple" or "?advanced" to the WoWDB link. For example:

• Flamestrike (http://www.wowdb.com/spells/2120?simple)
• Blood Presence (http://www.wowdb.com/spells/48263?advanced)

If as a site owner you want to disable them, you can also do it by embedding the following code with your tt.js. Users who want to use the advanced versions of tooltips will still be able to use the ?advanced links on your site, but any regular link will default to the simple version.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://static-azeroth.cursecdn.com/current/js/syndication/tt.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">var WowDbSettings = { AdvancedTooltips: false };</script>

Where are we going with this? The ultimate goal is pretty simple, if we're doing things right, you shouldn't have to visit the site to get your information. It's also going to be incredibly useful since it will let us track a lot more things on patch days, making our classes changes much more accurate and interesting. This is obviously very much a work in progress and we will be improving this over the next days/weeks but we're terribly interested in feedback and wanted to launch the feature as soon as possible.

In the end, the database has a long way to go. The interface is pretty terrible and finding anything is hard. We're on our way to fixing it (we'll do a first pass on navigation/filters this week now that things are implemented, new design a little later) and we're busy experimenting with cool stuff. It should be fairly shiny soon!

Feedback on the new tooltips would be greatly appreciated!


Changes to Inactive Guild Leader Replacement

Inactive Guild Leader Replacement was added to World of Warcraft in patch 4.3, and allows an active member to take over the guild leadership position from an inactive guild leader, encouraging guild activity by giving players a way to promote a new leader if theirs has been absent for an extended period of time.

Based on your feedback, we recently modified the Inactive Guild Leader Replacement process. From our most recent hotfixes for World of Warcraft:

• Inactive guild leader replacement now requires 90 days of absence, up from 30 days.
• Ascent to the rank of guild leader is now only available to guild members at Rank 2, 3, or 4, where the guild leader is considered Rank 1.

The option to dethrone the guild leader is only visible to the highest-ranked player logged in at any given time.

Since we made this change in a hotfix, it is still possible for the in-game process to present itself to guild members who are at Rank 4 or lower. However, if a guild member at Rank 4 or lower attempts to replace the absent guild leader, they will see an error in-game. This will only be the case until we apply a change to a future patch.

World of Warcraft Patch 4.3.4 Notes

Ticket Submission UI Improvements

• A new Submit Bug button has been added. Clicking this option will open a report dialog box, along with basic instructions on what to include in your bug report.
  
• A new Submit Suggestion button has been added. Clicking this option will open a text dialog box, along with a description of what to include in your suggestion.
  
• The Report Lag button has been removed.
  
• The Report Abuse button is now called Report Player.
  
  • The Report Player function offers four categories: Spamming, Language, Name, and Cheating.
    
  • Reporting a player for Cheating now opens a text window in which a description of the occurrence can be written.
    
  • Reporting a Name opens a window with three categories: Player Name, Guild Name, and Arena Team Name. There is also a text field for optional information.
    
  • Report Player now includes text and visual instructions for how to submit a report.
    
• Right-clicking a character’s portrait now offers additional reporting options.

Patch 4.3 Hotfixes - April 17

Classes
Warlock
Destruction

• Bane of Havoc no longer persists when the warlock changes to a spec that does not include the talent.

Items

• Fras Siabi's Barely Bigger Beer is a now bit less big, and its effect no longer stacks.

UI

• Inactive guild leader replacement now requires 90 days of absence, up from 30 days. Ascent to the rank of guild leader is now only available to guild members at Rank 2, 3, or 4.

Blue Posts

Annual Pass Invite Order
We've stated in the past there are several ways by which candidates are invited to test Mists of Pandaria beta. All we've said with regard to Annual Pass holders is that they'll be invited before people who submitted through our opt-in process, and that they'll be invited in order of Annual Pass purchase date and total cumulative play time on the account.

So here are a few things I didn't feel like typing on Twitter to one person all but accusing us of a conspiracy:

1) You don't have access to enough information to determine with certainty the way in which each and every person flagged for beta access was invited.

2) Even if you were able to prove that one Annual Pass holder was invited a) in an Annual Pass invite wave, and b) before someone who purchased their Annual Pass earlier, has more cumulative play time on their account, and was also invited in an Annual Pass wave, that still doesn't prove there's a systemic flaw in the way in which all accounts are being flagged.

3) We're aware that the terminology we used when initially announcing the Annual Pass feature was misleading. We've already stated we regret the way that went down. That said, we had no reason to falsely claim we'd be distributing invites in a way we had no intention of actually following. There's just no good reason to lie about that and hope people wouldn't catch on. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Red Panda Male Tail
We consider the pandaren models pretty much done: i.e. the distinctive longer tails for female red-coloured pandaren, that we like, are there to stay. Let's say it like this: we don't want to repeat the female worgen on this one. We don't want to second-guess the design.

This may just be my interpretation and not our company's, but the way I see it is that with many things there's always going to be people that like it exactly how it is — as we do — and those that don't. If we change it, the people who didn't like it before the change might be satisfied by it changing, but there's also the chance they might not be. What's guaranteed, though, is that those who did like it just as it was (usually the silent majority) definitely won't like it being changed. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Jewelled Panthers
So I am not sure offhand if any of this information is new or not, but here it is anyhow just in case any of it is news to you.

These will be Jewelcrafter recipes and we're not actually completely decided on whether there will be a recipe for each colour, or whether the creation of one will produce one of the four colours at random.

As I think you already know, the black one will be a little different. It's a flying mount and it'll be created by combining the other four mount colours together.

We're estimating that the cost of creating these mounts will be very expensive. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Monk (Forums)
Monk Mistweaver Feedback
We don't want to need Agility.
We don't want that either. Mistweavers should use Intellect leather. We just have to make sure that any of their damage-dealing abilities don't make Agi attractive. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Paladin (Forums)
Holy Paladin Solo DPS
We don't want Holy to be a DPS spec, but we do want Holy paladins to be able to do reasonable damage when solo, to keep up pressure in PvP, or when grouped in moments when healing isn't critical. Holy Shock and Denounce are supposed to provide that damage, but their numbers are abysmally weak at the moment. We will fix.

The above is relevant to all healer specs mind you. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Warlock (Forums)
Affliction Warlock Feedback
We are discussing removing the limit one on Agony. We think Malefic Grasp already solves the same problem of wanting to make sure that focusing on a single target can be as effective as multi-dotting the room.

(As an aside, it's fine to multi-dot the room, but we want to avoid a situation where a dot class is either terrible with one target or doubles everyone else's damage when there are multiple targets.)

If we make the Agony change, then Soul Swap could move Agony and UA and feel worth doing (assuming Seeds already covers Corruption in an AE environment). It's also possible we could just bring down the Soul Swap cooldown as well. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Trading Card Game Art
Blizzard has updated the Trading Card Game art gallery to feature ten new pieces.

[Yuuki Asuna]

Oh wow very very nice!

[moveth]

Intro is very nice.

[angelflavor]

Video is private : ( I hope that's an error

[Radeghost]

awesome ;d

[chaud]

Video is private : ( I hope that's an error

Someone must be getting rusty at doing the news.

[Boubouille]

He did everything i just push the button

[LemonBabby]

I like how they are staying with their initial design for the Pandaren. Also, lawl at Chaud and Boub.

[angelflavor]

It works now!! Wow I hope the horde is this good

[Assisst]

Coming along just fine this game!
Although the panther mounts smell kinda like power rangers! :P all the colors turn into a big robot! hehe :P

[Salech]

Alliance panda faction leader quest is better than the horde equivalent.

[Faerwen]

More like Voltron, with the four multicolored cats combining into one!

[Linzo]

the cut-scene when u knock down varian cracked me up lol.

[Easo]

Items

Fras Siabi's Barely Bigger Beer is a now bit less big, and its effect no longer stacks.

Aww, my guildies are going to be sad.

[Bane-Thunder-God]

Lol that was a very good intro to Alliance. And the cut scene the look on the male pandaren face cracked me up!

For the Alliance!

[orderschvank]

varian went down like a lil bitch! lol

[Kaneiac]

I totally don't dig the transition from Neutral -> Faction.

Just like that, we go from working with every other Panda to being their sworn enemies, even family members, just because I wanted to be with the Alliance instead?

It feels so...contrived. I understand the reasoning behind it, they want there to be war - but holy shit is it hamfisted.

There needs to be more confrontation between Ji & Aysa on the Wandering Isle, or some splitting event.

As it stands, it's...help both Horde and Alliance, get a flavor for each one, then click on the pretty banner.

[Deleted]

That was epic!

[Nuvuk]

I Hope the horde intro is as worked on as the alliance intro.

Im glad they changed the guild mutiny requirements. better start making a 5th and 6th rank.

varian went down like a lil bitch! lol

Doesnt he always.

[Azivalla]

Laughed way too hard at the shots of the Pandarens' faces when you smack the King.