Heirloom Shields, Ghostcrawler on Tri Spec, April 30 Hotfixes, Blue Tweets, Fan Art

[chaud]

Watch Tower and Weeping Hollow Density Adjusted, The Process of Adding Changes, Game Devs Don't Work on the Website, Console and PC Team are Different

Patch 5.3 - Heirloom Shields
Patch 5.2 added two new Heirloom shields to the game, but there were some issues with them and they never were added to vendors.

It appears the issues have been resolved, and we will see Weathered Observer's Shield and Flamescarred Draconian Deflector in Patch 5.3 at the cost of 2175 Justice Points.

Ghostcrawler on Tri Spec
It appears uniqueness is part of the reason we won't be seeing Tri Spec in Patch 5.3.

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 30

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

• Throne of Thunder
  
  • Lei Shen
    
    • Lei Shen's hitpoints have been reduced by 10% on Raid Finder difficulty.
      
    • Static Shock from the North Conduit now deals 300,000 damage at 0 energy, down from 650,000 on Raid Finder difficulty.
      

Blue Tweets

PvE
Stack ranking healers based on meters is like stack ranking cars based on max speed. It doesn't tell the whole story. (Source)

Are you guys really okay with months of LFR becoming useless by Valor Gear? All that time spent on gear is wasted.
Aren't you always replacing your gear every few months though? What is the specific valor concern? (Source)

What's diff between reason Blizz used 4 shared lock-out vs. normal raiders feel complld to do normal+LFR each week?
Why do you run LFR as a N raider? What is there for you? (Source)
Valor Points. At our current progression we are still scrapping for any source of upgrade. Plus the SP-A rep to buy.
You won't get additional rep for doubling up, but if you are on e.g. 3rd boss in N then it might make sense to do the rest in LFR. (Source)
To be fair, that's fairly min-max behavior. If you're on 3rd boss on N, a couple more valor pieces isn't what's holding you back. (Source)
Normal Raiders feel the LFR mandatory cus of the stuff. LFR ToT stuff ilvl should be = to 489 to prevent that.
If you're a N raider, you are earning 522+ ilevel. (Source)
If you don't have much 522 because you're stuck on an early boss, then getting a few 502 probably isn't what's blocking you. (Source)
If you like earning ilevel as fast as possible, by all means go for it, but I wouldn't consider it mandatory. (Source)

Didn't you just hotfix nerf health in Horridon and Sounds like a gear issue to me. Those weren't mechanic nerfs.
We don't make fights that are target dummies. Nerfing numbers means you can afford more mistakes on the mechanics. (Source)
As I said, if improving gear is fun for you, that's great. Just don't obsess unnecessarily over marginal ilevel improvements. (Source)

We need Normal tuned down. The amount of non heroic guilds finishing Nrrmals in time is negligible
We're happy with N difficulty for 25. It was a little hard for 10s, but we made some fixes. (Source)

for 'real' raiders progression is the motivation. raiding for loot is an outdated vanilla attitude.
That hasn't been our experience. Raiding is fun, but becomes less so the moment you stop getting rewards. (Source)

What's with the can't release spirit until whole raid whipes mechanic? I find it kinda annoying I wish I knew why it was there
It solved a whole lot of problems where players wouldn't get credit or loot if they released before a kill. (Source)

I'd always thought testing times are based on when you guys can get all *your* hands on deck to observe, no?
There's an element of that for sure. Being on the west coast doesn't always work to our advantage. (Source)
If you're a two-night-a-week guild, are you going to sacrifice one of those just to help us out? I mean we appreciate it for sure. (Source)
My point was we get a lot of testing by heroic raiders. It's harder for normal raiders to justify spending the time. (Source)

It would have to be a sizable reward to get me to leave my guild groups for the thankless world of pug tanking.
We really don't want you to do that. I fundamentally believe WoW is more fun with friends than solo. (Source)
Hard to believe that, when raid tuning means either settle for LFR or ditch underperforming friends.
Would you be satisfied if you could run Raid Finder with just your friends? Or is your expectation to run an easier ver of normal? (Source)

What if..... you didn't change the ilvl or stats on LFR gear ,but made the gear blue quality.
A whole lot of players use LFR. We want to preserve the prestige of N and H raiding, but don't want to push folks out of LFR. (Source)

in ToT almost every encounter has a tank swap based on a debuff stack, are we gonna see different mechanics in the next tier?
If we can come up with good ones. We (and tanks) soured on the "soak up the cleave" mechanic. (Source)

I get bored whenever I feel I can't progress, be it gear or stuck on a boss or whatnot.
Frustration at lack of progression is a common problem. (Source)
However, it happens when players can't kill a boss and also when they kill everything and run out of content. No progress. (Source)

Actually you can force. Called remove LFG/LFR and you'll see 'communities/interaction' occur instantly.
Er, for some players, sure. Others just log off when they can't get a group. (Source)
I had friends and still sat in chat for 2h looking for Arcatraz pugs. Not the best of times. (Source)

why is mob tagging still in the game? surely fostering co-operation is a good thing?
It is, but tabbing SW:Pain on every mob in a zone isn't our idea of cooperation. (Source)

GC, will we ever see a return to the way VPs were awarded thru heroics in WotLK? Some people can't log in every day!
You can keep running dungeons on the days you can log in. You keep getting valor beyond the first run. (Source)
In the DS model, 7 runs capped you. Now, takes 18 runs if you do 1 per day, and 1 more run per missed day.
Fewer players capped when it was 7 a day. Totally understand that that model worked better for some players. (Source)

What is your design for PvE set bonuses? Stronger as tiers progress? Or just fun bonuses, should people have 4pc or offpieces?
I personally like the idea that off pieces can be competitive, but it's a hard sell to many players (and some designers). (Source)
I know that for throne of thunder with thunderforged pieces alot of people will be dropping tier pieces for BiS thunderforged.
I think that's kind of cool rather than tunneling in on set pieces only, but we'll see how it feels in a few more weeks. (Source)
Why do we even have off-set pieces? So that armor looks different? But all offset match set artistically anyway.
One reason is players like to match their gear (easier with transmog now). (Source)
Another is that raid quality armor takes about a month for an artist to make and we make 22 (including PvP) plus weapons. (Source)

Challenge mode was the biggest waste of resources, unpopular, unappealing, not worth it. Scrap it.
Disagree. It's more popular than expected and I personally find it a ton of fun. It's cool to use all your abilities for a change. (Source)

Exodus Done With 25 Man Raiding
Late last week Killars posted an interesting message as to why Exodus is done raiding. They ended up in 8th place in Tier 15, down from 6th place in Tier 14.

Yes, I'll confirm the news here for anyone not in the loop or questioning the rumors. will no longer continue to function as a 25 man raiding guild. No plan to go 10 man as of yet, but that really doesn't matter because 25 man is what the hardcore raiding scene really is about and Exodus will no longer be competing in such a scene.

Why? How? Well this game isn't to blame. In the last few years this game (despite many people quitting and guilds dying) isn't to blame for vodka/Exodus' demise it's the raiding community. I don't mean this is a pointing the finger sort of way, it's an inevitable sort of flaw in the competition of the top end raiders. You see... we've basically been killing ourselves off slowly since day 1.

In the last few years we've certainly picked up the pace, but the "hardcore raider" is a dying breed and it's certainly becoming a more difficult breed to be a part of. What I mean by this is of course the time commitment and the level of shear dedication and determination it takes and costs to be at the very top. This isn't to poke fun, but to just shed light of why many people, and subsequently, many guilds will fall. Raiding for many many hours on end is fun, CAN be exciting, and at the end of it all can really prove who really wants that world first/us first/realm first the most.

Unfortunately we (hardcore raiders) pushed too hard. Tier after tier we just keep adding to the insanity in both farming preparations and actual progressing. It's almost as if progression itself never really ends after a end tier boss dies. Combine this with Blizzard actually putting new content out faster, alts playing a big role, PTR/BETA, dailys, coins, BMAH, well... you just get lost in it all. Right now there are a few legit world first guilds left. The competition is slim because the competition is literally eating each other (well not that literally). Good luck to everyone left in the race for this expac, but I don't know how much longer this sort of thing can last.

Fan Art Update
The World of Warcraft Fan Art Section has been updated with two new pieces of fan artwork.

[moveth]

FInally Lei Shen nerfs. Thank god

[Vyragosa]

May you find success in a near future Exodus / Vodka. I had a blast watching you guys go and learned a lot from you and being on top of the US guilds in the world. Unfortunately, nothing last forever. Hope to see you again sometimes.

[PvPisthelifeforme]

Coming from a semi-hardcore raider in Classic (Up to Sapp in Naxx) and BC (Downed KJ week before nerf!), it is interesting to see how Killars put it. I remember the long nights being fun of just one character, one purpose, one goal. I am glad I switched to pvp in wotlk, and have not looked back! RIP Exodus... while I never followed raiding after Wrath, it is never fun to realize the hard truth of certain things.

[Rixarius]

The "Hardcore Raiding killing itself" bit is really interesting. It makes sense. The world first race has just become at its core a test of who can put in the most hours non stop. Eventually there might only be 1-2 remaining guilds that can put in those hours, and then what kinda world first race would it be? I personally would like the world first race to be who can kill the boss in the least amount of attempts at the start of an patch, before all the strat guides go out. Then it would be a test of pure skill and not just faceslamming until loot comes out.

[WingsofLiberty]

The second fanart is simply stunning, but does anyone have an idea on who's the boss, because it surely doesn't look like DW.

[NatePsy]

Hm.. That 2nd fan art looks like it should be in Guild Wars 2, though the boss does remind me of Shannox *sorta*

[Gandilf]

The "Hardcore Raiding killing itself" bit is really interesting. It makes sense. The world first race has just become at its core a test of who can put in the most hours non stop. Eventually there might only be 1-2 remaining guilds that can put in those hours, and then what kinda world first race would it be? I personally would like the world first race to be who can kill the boss in the least amount of attempts at the start of an patch, before all the strat guides go out. Then it would be a test of pure skill and not just faceslamming until loot comes out.

I couldn't agree more. - And the added amount of time you use on alts is also insane but hay we wanted more to do when we're not raiding and we got it. The time consumption is just exploded in MoP for my part which also have lead med to almost quit the game now. Just can't put in all the hours needed to be competitive.

[MrKnubbles]

That Cataclysm fan art is pretty sick.

[Typhod]

I feel pretty sure that the 2nd fanart is Hakkar the Houndmaster, but why did he got into the cata part? I dont know

[Asbestos]

Heirloom Shields you say? Need to do a little research on what would be the best Heirloom Shield enchants to get on that AH! Heirloom enchants have been a very good source of income for me.

[Deleted]

I respect what the vodka guys did in the past, but what a load of emotional crap to be honest. There is no reason to assume that the hardcore raider is a dying breed and that it will all eventually collapse into one big massive uniform heap of casualness and LFR enjoyment. They are quitting because they can no longer attract the talent necessary to compete for a top 5 spot, and that is simply because the amount of dedicated top tier raiding guilds has increased due to the increased popularity of certain top guilds, the almost celebrity cultus that has come with the streaming phenomenon, the addition of high profile sponsorship deals and the exposure the cream of the crop is getting from both the player base and WoW media.

A least quit in style instead of predicting the apocalypse of hardcore raiding.

[Deleted]

Finally heirloom shields!! Shame I've got no class to level that needs them now

[Jackdemenzes]

The "Hardcore Raiding killing itself" bit is really interesting. It makes sense. The world first race has just become at its core a test of who can put in the most hours non stop. Eventually there might only be 1-2 remaining guilds that can put in those hours, and then what kinda world first race would it be? I personally would like the world first race to be who can kill the boss in the least amount of attempts at the start of an patch, before all the strat guides go out. Then it would be a test of pure skill and not just faceslamming until loot comes out.

It is interesting. It reminds me of people complaining about "having" to do LFR to keep up. Blizzard is right, you can always make the choice not to, but that knowledge that other people will go that far means you know it will keep you behind. Competitive raiders, as he says, dig their own grave in that sense. Some sort of organised amnesty between raiders would work (about what's an acceptable amount of effort), but it just takes one guild to jump the fence and throw it all out the window. It's a bit like steroids in sport, heh.

Actually it reminds me of the dispute about unpaid overtime at my work at the moment. If one person is willing to work extra for free, in an effort to impress the right people, then everyone has to in an effort to keep up. The funny thing is no one actually wants to, but an arms race begins that drives everyone to do what they don't even want to do.

[rebecca191]

I haven't played WoW in a while but I still get sad seeing a long time top guild die - two if you count Vodka. I barely recognize the top 20 anymore. It was bound to happen eventually, I burned out on a way less hardcore schedule (6 years of US top 50/world top 200-300) and while I blame Cataclysm somewhat for hastening the burnout because I disliked 90% of it, even if it had been great at most I think I would have played one more expansion because that kind of schedule conflicted with my long term life goals, and I imagine it's even more of a conflict for the most hardcore. It was always a fun race to watch, and it's too bad. It was easy to blame Cataclysm when I was playing it and hating it, but I see now it would happen no matter how great the game is/isn't, I think. A lot of people are older now and are married, with kids, or just more demanding jobs, other interests, etc. And i don't see enough new players interested in that kind of play style joining to replace them. I wouldn't be surprised if there's really no more hardcore world first race if the game is still around after a couple more expansions.

[Ryme]

I respect what the vodka guys did in the past, but what a load of emotional crap to be honest. There is no reason to assume that the hardcore raider is a dying breed and that it will all eventually collapse into one big massive uniform heap of casualness and LFR enjoyment. They are quitting because they can no longer attract the talent necessary to compete for a top 5 spot, and that is simply because the amount of dedicated top tier raiding guilds has increased due to the increased popularity of certain top guilds, the almost celebrity cultus that has come with the streaming phenomenon, the addition of high profile sponsorship deals and the exposure the cream of the crop is getting from both the player base and WoW media.

A least quit in style instead of predicting the apocalypse of hardcore raiding.

It is a dying breed... Recruitment at that level is becoming harder and harder, the amount of guilds that have a real chance at top 3 is now pretty much 3 guilds and all of them have complained that getting in new recruits is becoming harder.

He didn't suggest it will collapse into uniform casualness, just that the amount of top raiding guilds will collapse to smaller and smaller numbers - which it is.

[Volitar]

The reason for no trispec is retarded. Every PVE Rogue has the same two specs with the same glyphs as every other PVE Rogue.

This is what I picture GC's face looks like as he posts these dumb tweets.

[url]

[AVPaul]

It's so stupid to hear, that changing one min to get to trainer+/abs restore <spec> into 3rd spec will hurt game somehow, when their homogenization already killed all class and spec identity. Talents doesn't make sense at all. You know, when I'm playing my alts of all classes and specs, I'm binding similar abilities to the same buttons. So when I switch to other alt with different class and spec, I don't even feel any difference - I just hit the same buttons intuitively. So it's so much hypocritical to tell me, that some simple convenience-oriented change will hurt the game somehow, when it's already hurt 100500 times more by other very doubtful changes.

[Znarkharka]

The second fanart is simply stunning, but does anyone have an idea on who's the boss, because it surely doesn't look like DW.

We've never seen it, but it looks a hell lot like the Sargeras i have in my mind.

[Trinora]

I think people who like the the time before lfr/lfg never spend any time actually trying to get a group of people together.
It was frustrating and definitely not fun.