World First Glory of the Thundering Raider, Blood in the Snow, Blue Tweets, TCG Art

[chaud]

Give Blizzard Your Density Feedback, How to Make Shields Viable Again?, Disconnecting From Being Idle, Community Commentary

World First Glory of the Thundering Raider
Congratulations to 炼狱 for completing the Glory of the Thundering Raider achievement, which rewards a Armored Skyscreamer!

Patch 5.3 - Blood in the Snow Scenario
This is the first new scenario added in Patch 5.3, completable after you have seen the intro and picked up the quest.

Blue Tweets

Classes
It's probably still a valid point, but don't compare a mitigation-geared DK to a haste-geared paladin.
It is also the case that some tanks care a lot about their DPS and some just don't, even at the cutting-edge. That skews data. (Source)

stop removing unique class abilities to just add X generic for all classes. Bring back mana burn
We do the X generic thing to avoid too much class stacking / benching. Mana Burn we just didn't like. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
So, wait. in 5.3 Sudden Doom does NOTHING for DKs before level 70? seems silly.
Unholy Presence is level 64 now. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Hunter Bloat:EotB not "bloat-" Rotational and combat bloat is the problem. Ex.rather have Widow Venom baked in like war/monks.
While combat bloat is a bigger problem, anything that fills up action bars is a problem. Venom would be a (small) PvP buff. (Source)

why don't you want to answer to a question about hunter pet auto-taunt in dungeons? It's an obstacle that shouldn't exist.
It's a problem but we haven't come up with a solution we like more than the problem. (Source)

You made warriors dual 2h weaps you dedicated whole mop to locks why cant hunters dual 1h guns?
It would require a lot of new animation and itemization and we're not sure the gain, while positive, would be worth the cost. (Source)
(And whenever I say "cost" I am talking about production time, which is much more salient to our development than dollars.) (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
E.g., FB plus Flamestrike plus 3 GCDs of Blizzard weaker than 5x NT. FB strong enough, but fillers too weak so NT stays ahead.
We were just talking about this. It's a fair point. We probably should have buffed the AEs when we buffed the bombs. (Source)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Eminence not procing legendary, Glyph of Uplift isn't working with it. Channels don't benefit until recast.
Because it's Real PPM (tm) as long as something procs it, you'll get the full benefit from the buff. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Holy Paladin T14 4pc bonus feels mandatory because its better than T15 heroic items please do something
Still skeptical of this. Giving up all of those stats on the higher ilevel is a big cost. (Source)
Thats the whole problem. You're trading 4t14 with stats, the t15 bonuses are absolute 0. The 4 t14 bonus is also fun...
I think absolute 0 is probably an overstatement. What you're talking us into though is nerfing the t14 4 pc. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
I quote in 5.2 "We nerfed Phantasm and Psyfiend we didn’t want to hurt Mass Dispel or other utility that Shadow" I'm confused?
We looked, and very few Shadow took the Glyph of Mass Dispel, so we didn't think the cast time would be that noticeable. (Source)
I should clarify that I meant the glyph in PvE. We don't want to nerf PvE utility. We DO want to nerf PvP utility for Shadow. (Source)
Have you considered giving mass dispel the colossal smash treatment? Pve/PvP versions
We did, but it's more complicated than CS because we're generally okay with Disc / Holy Mass Dispel. (Source)

A nerf to atonement means death to atonement. No one will ever use it and you'll have once again nerfed fun.
I predict Atonement will be fine, just not the answer to every healing situation as it can be on live. (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
is the ST nerf thanks to the DT Buff last patch? Was fun as a CP Generator, not as a wannabe autoattack spin-off.
We didn't like it as a cheap CP generator. We wanted it to be for times when you couldn't be in melee. (Source)

Potting as a Rogue is annoying, possible to allow pots usable in stealth?
That doesn't seem unreasonable. We'll discuss. (Source)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Curious as to decision on shammies and staves, would have liked Spiritbinding Spire from LFR as it goes well with Shammy T15?
It's a tough one. We heard from shaman upset that we would give them a 2H weapon and not allow use of their shield. (Source)

Based on feedback, we are going to revert the change and let shaman win caster staves (and maces) once again. (Source)
So you will listen to feedback on staffs but completely ignore reasonable feedback to revert the totem change?
Taking feedback isn't the same as doing whatever the community asks us to do. The design decisions are still ours to make. (Source)

Is there any chance of re-vamping Unleash Elements, specifically for ele shamans? It's practically a useless spell.
No immediate plans. It is rotational with Unleashed Fury and provides utility otherwise. The moving part is less important now. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
are you happy with the green fire boss? Its the best thing ever to happen in pve imo. Can you confirm it will not be nerfed?
I can't promise it won't ever be, but it is self-nerfing as players get more gear. (Some players have done it very undergeared.) (Source)

Maelific G. and Haunt seem like they're too hard to design for pvp but they are perfect for pve. (Pt.2)
Agreed. This is the heart of the problem. SB:SS also means individual dots can't do that much damage in PvE, which hurts PvP. (Source)
But I should clarify that we generally like SB:SS in PvE. It's PvP where it hold Affliction back. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Once bloodthirst doesn't crit, nor proc and my rage is low. I have no other option than to wait for CD. Is this the intention?
Yes. (Source)

How many arena warriors w/o 2nd wind? If you just thought "at what rating", cookie cutter.
Might make sense to bake it in, but then warriors would not need a healing talent on top of that. Still evaluating solutions. (Source)

Is it intended that Deep Wounds isn't benefitting from passive bonuses such as Seasoned solider and the SMF bonus?
We like the DPS it is doing. If we made it benefit from other passives, we would lower the damage it does to compensate. (Source)

PvE
So Primordius now takes 75% less damage instead of 25% right? So what's about all those Guilds killed him with 25% less damage
We had to make that change to fix a degenerate strategy. We also lowered his health to compensate. (Source)

why the nerfs to 10 man normal?
We gather a tremendous amount of data on raid progression. Some encounters were tougher than intended or compared to 5.0. (Source)
so how many weeks should it take a normal 10 man guild like mine to clear ToT normal? just wondering if we are behind or ahead
Typically the most relevant variable is how many nights a week you raid. There's no right answer, but fewer nights = longer. (Source)

it sucked re-learning a farm fight. I don't hate on LFR, but why not nerf the maze hard in LFR vs big changes in norm/Hero?
It was confusing in N and H too. The maze should be the challenge not the graphics and the run backwards part was just dumb. (Source)

I loved 4.3 - LFR DS to reg/heroic DS with my guild on 4 toons every week. now I only have one raiding 90, period.
You are comparing an overly long final tier to a hopefully short mid-tier though. (Source)

Do you think anyone will do heroic scenarios without an LFG tool? You'd spend more time finding a group than doing content.
We can't make random matchmaking content too challenging. If you have to form a group, there is some incentive to make it work. (Source)
But it's definitely an experiment. We'll see what the response is. More challenge for more reward / efficiency could be fun. (Source)

Looking at the avalaible data, ToT seems to be a heavy ranged favored tier, only rogues can compete in single. Thoughs?
Pretty happy with it overall. Having 2 dot fights early on skews perceptions a bit. (Source)

What is your opinion on the amount of trash mobs in ToT? Most people I talk to (raid team/LFR) think that there is too much
It's hard to get a good read on such feedback because players inherently argue for as little trash as possible. (Source)
Yes players want less trash. I don't understand this anti player request mentality.
Players ask for a lot that would make raiding easier or more convenient. That doesn't mean it's good for the game. (Source)
Inconvenience for the sake of inconvenience is also not good for the game.
Similarly, bosses without trash in between don't feel like bosses and the raid doesn't feel epic. Pacing is important. (Source)
Again, opinion stated as fact. "Feel epic" is subjective meaningless term that lets devs justify anything.
"Feel" makes it an opinion, not a fact. And yes, our opinions are important because we develop the game. (Source)

Pacing is important. ToT fails at good pacing. Why are you defending this?
Because pacing is subjective and we're happy with it. (Source)

Pacing was much better in Ulduar, just saying. This instance is designed for LFR, norm/hard are addendums?
We always design normal first. (Source)

A lot of pulls you need to "tip-toe" compared to past raids where you AoE/burn. Ulduar still best.
I find AE/burn more tedious than anything. I like to be making some decisions when I play, even on trash. (Source)

What was wrong with HoF/ToES/MV trash? Why did you need 3-4x more?
The raid occupies a lot of geographic space... which is something many players were requesting. (Source)

I'd like to get some clarification on the Secrets of the Empire drop. Is the drop chance shared between LFR and normal/heroic?
Yes. You should not have to run LFR (for those drops) if you also run normal or heroic. (Source)

Weekly News Recap
Lots of news this week, so here is your chance to catch up if you missed a day of news:

• April 12
  
  • The first Heroic Scenario of the day now offers 120 Valor Points for completion and 30 Valor Points for completing the bonus objectives.
  • You will also earn a Heroic Cache of Treasures, which has a chance to drop epic item level 516 gear.
  • The Heroic Cache of Treasures was also added to the Challenge Mode Daily Quests.
  • Titan's Grip with Polearms may not make 5.3, even though it appears to work.
  • A new Hearthstone gameplay video was released.
• April 11
  
  • Method got the World First kill of Ra-den!
  • In 5.3, Level 90+ NPCs will have a chance to drop Lesser Charms of Good Fortune.
  • Lots of class changes and tooltip fixes in the new PTR build and PTR Notes Update.
• April 10
  
  • Preview of the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario.
  • Throne of Thunder 10 Man had the difficulty of many encounters reduced.
• April 09
  
  • An in game support site browser will be added in Patch 5.3.
  • Gamon got an update on the PTR!
  • The Pegasus Mount will come from a Hearthstone promotion.
  • Lots of other changes in a new PTR build.
• April 08
  
  • A group in China got a bugged Ra-den kill, so he was hotfixed.
• April 07
  
  • Patch 5.3 adds the ability to transmogrify to items from your bank or Void Storage without having them in your bags, and you can do this with Void Storage items with an addon already.
  • New Setup of the Month.

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

[moveth]

Skyscreamer mount looks so nice!

[Rexoz]

ah so ching chong did it, gz!


[infracted]

[Easo]

DAT Art!
Awesome dwarf, awesome gnome, and succubus, touching belf's tits.

[Glaziola]

DAT Art!
Awesome dwarf, awesome gnome, and succubus, touching belf's tits.

I am so proud of owning that card :P
Gz on the glory! GJ

[smcn]

Skyscreamer mount looks so nice!

Given the progression of the Isle of Thunder storyline I wish this could have been a reward at the end and give GotTR an even cooler-looking one.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

ah so ching chong did it, gz!

Was that racist comments really needed?

OT: Gratz to them.

[Deleted]

Love the skyscreamer, wish it was given to us after the IoT storyline.

Also, lol @ the blood elf & succubus art, NSFW!

[Static]

Chaud, was that a Troll Shaman in your Scenario group?

[Reyzzz]

Was that racist comments really needed?

OT: Gratz to them.

Fish meet hook.

Would love to have that mount, probably never will.

[Wishblade]

Gratz to them and interesting with the boss of the scenario being a Herald of Rastakhan... Guess poor Rasty tried recruiting some frost trolls of his own, seeing Zul got the Drakkari.

[Kaleredar]

Given the progression of the Isle of Thunder storyline I wish this could have been a reward at the end and give GotTR an even cooler-looking one.

I'm inclined to agree.


The blue-orange one looks... okay. It looks deserving of something like an exalted quest chain ender (or maybe a reward for earning "the Stormbreaker" title.)

But the red-blue one and black green one just look so sexy... I'd say they're far more deserving of being the Raid Meta.

[Deleted]

I like the Weekly news recap. You guys should do it every week from now if you can. It's nice having a summary at the end of each week.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I like the weekly news recap. Here's hoping for more of those!

[Alayea]

Congratulations to Purgatory! (Assuming bing translator is correct, of course...)

Really don't care for that succubus & blood elf art. Just... bleh. The dwarf priest looks great in the snow, though.

[huangzhong9]

Just wanted to post to say that i like the added links to all the weeks news posts, i think that is a welcome addition to the usual sunday post.

[Alayea]

Chaud, was that a Troll Shaman in your Scenario group?

Something must have glitched with the Alliance disguise spell. Maybe the murloc suit was too awesome.

[dremnit]

imo the green fire boss should apply a debuff that lowers the stats of a certain gear level [and disables abilities and talents higher than level 90] of a MoP warlock so locks from a future expansion would have to deal with it as locks of today have

[Deleted]

ugly mount its prolly a reskinned model like all the others are.

[TheMeII]

Was that racist comments really needed?

OT: Gratz to them.

I didn't take it as racist. It's what their language sounds like, and we didn't get translation for those hanji to address them properly.