Blizzcon Dev Interview, Blue Posts, Post-BlizzCon Sale, OpenRaid Event, Fan Art

[chaud]

Diablo III Remote Play on PS Vita, More Details on Adventure Mode, Few More Details on Expansion Features

Blue Post Round-up, Blue Tweets, Hearthstone Beta Key Giveaway

Blizzcon Dev Interview Recap
Gamebreaker had the chance to talk to Ghostcrawler before Blizzcon, so this entire interview looks back at Mists of Pandaria.

PvE

• Raid Finder is finally in a decent place, but there is always room for improvement.
• Flex hasn't had a huge impact on the number of people using Raid Finder.
• The drop in the number of tanks in Raid Finder is partially due to how they are treated. (If you want faster queues, be nice to your tanks!)

Proving Grounds

• Proving Grounds worked out well, the devs will upgrade it and keep working on it in the future. They could break it up into a melee or ranged DPS version, provide more feedback when you make errors, or maybe even bring it to lower levels.
• The team is still thinking about letting you enter LFR with a lower than normal item level if you have the gold proving grounds achievement, especially with alts.
• Proving Grounds aren't perfectly evenly balanced for every class and spec, so they shouldn't be used to compare the different classes and specs.

Misc

• The Live Raid bosses were picked because they are visually interesting and would fit in the timespan allotted.
• The big unannounced feature was really two features. One was cancelled and one was delayed until WoD. Ghostcrawler will let us know when it is added though!

Blue Posts

Connected Realms and Faction Balance
Unfortunately it's not possible to solve faction balance completely. I expect many of you have heard us say this before, but there are way more Horde overall on European PvP realms than Alliance. On EU PvE realms it's the other way around, Alliance outnumber Horde. Short of forcing people to faction change (which is not a realistic option), there will always be faction imbalance to a certain degree.

However, when choosing which realms to connect, we picked ones that improved the situation wherever possible. And in Warlords of Draenor, the PvP zone will make use of cross-realm technology to ensure there will be a good faction balance there to help with the PvP objectives.

First of all, other than paid faction changes (20 euros or so lol) there are no incentives from your side to improve the situation at all. In fact, doing nothing only generated more revenue for you guys due to paid faction changes, where the outnumbered faction simply joined the winning team.
Actually we have a great incentive to improve the situation: player happiness. If that isn't taken into account, we actually lose revenue. This is why we offer free character migrations for people on realms with queues, and if the realm is heavily imbalanced in favour of a particular faction, we tailor the FCM to ease that imbalance.

So what could be done to somewhat solve the problem or flatten such an inbalance? Well, you could offer free faction changes. Other games have done that, you could do it. You have the tech to switch races in the blink of an eye. So there's no excuse not to offer it. While of course, for some realms where you have distributions like 1 : 10 you might want to offer a bit more than just a free faction change. Because, who would want to switch to the helplessly outnumbered faction anyway? But maybe a mount, or a pet (you are good a creating that stuff and selling it for 5-20 bucks anyway) or maybe some recruit a friend benefits. There are possibilities. There are things Blizzard could do.
We've experimented with this before, and found that people are reluctant to move without their friends, guilds, etc. Plus, as it was mentioned above, no one wants to be the first one to move because they don't want to run the risk of ending up on the minority side. I personally don't think any kind of incentive like you mentioned would be enough to persuade a significant number of players to change faction, be disconnected from at least some of their network of friends, and potentially put them in a weaker position than before from a PvP standpoint.

Having said that, we developed Connected Realms technology to help with low population realms, and we'll continue to look into ways to help with faction imbalance. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Trial of the Gladiator
From what I've seen and read, Blizzard are alternating days for more people to participate in arena and RBGS, so there will be more ques for both during them days, when it is not arena day, there will be skirmishes which i believe the community has been asking for, for a while now. I personally like this idea, as it means i can level up alts for pvp and just leave them in their competitive pvp gear whilst i get the chance to Gear my main. Personally i found it boring and tedious gearing up 3-8 alts and this change means i can be competitive on all of them. I see this change working positivity as it will stop win trading and make pvp competitive and fun once again.
From what we know right now I believe alternate days is indeed the current plan.

Everyone, please continue giving your thoughts on this feature but remember that the system is still in the works as we take on board your feedback, so try to keep it constructive

EU blue does not deny Arena ladders canceled (atleast he did not say thing about it), but US blue says that thay have no plans to cancel it.
I'm sorry if my post was confusing. As Lore said, we have no plans to remove the current Arena ladder. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

PvP
PvP players feel like 2nd class citizens this xpac and well PvP lvls vs PvE, caps, tccy buff, much wrong after patch thoughts?
We made a ton of changes to support PvP this xpack. You can disagree with the changes but I don't buy the 2nd class argument. (Source)
Example 1 "I don't agree with the PvP ilevel change. The costs were worth than the problems it created for world PvP." (Source)
Example 2 "Blizzard changed PvP ilevel because PvP players are second class citizens." See the difference? (Source)

My concern w this mindset is the message new players see: "What you're doing now doesn't matter. Just level."
I think the message is that it is almost played as two games, and most players are playing the max level one. (Source)

is it time to give spells a different function/dmg in pve and pvp? Make balancing easier. Balancing for pvp and pve is awful
We give spells different functions in PvP all the time when we think that is the right solution. It's not a universal panacea. (Source)

So you'd rather people get burnt out on gearing, than actually participate because it's fun?
In fact the opposite can also be true: if we're not careful, players will engage in unfun things just for the power rewards. (Source)

So, do you play to address the joke that Blood DK's are in 2's?
Sigh. Tanks in Arena are rarely fun for anyone but the tank. (Source)

Have you ever thought about adding a spectating system for arena matches?
We would love to, but technically it is not a trivial thing to build. (Not impossible, just not trivial.) (Source)

And ironically you maintain a very deterministic system in pvp. I guess pvp players aren't deserving of the joy of rng loot?
We'd actually like to make PvP rewards less deterministic. We'd just have to be careful about how we did that. (Source)

PVP is too deterministic. I would like drops from battlegrounds.. also at low levels.
We don't like PvP rewards being so deterministic, but have yet to come up with a good design for an alternative. (Source)

Ghost , it pains me to see that you guys would sacrifice world pvp when you have pvp servers .
I think flying mounts and server transfers had much bigger effects on wpvp than ilevels. (Source)

Reputation / Questing
last time at blizzcon you said,you want offer many ways to get vp/gear/rep. Fact was that daily quests were the only way (c)
There were many ways to earn valor and gear. There was only one way to earn rep, but even that we changed later on. (Source)

Post-BlizzCon Online Store Sale Nov. 15 – Nov. 17

Another BlizzCon’s come and gone, but there’s still a chance to snag some cool commemorative Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo merchandise from the show. From now through November 17, anyone can purchase select items from the BlizzCon 2013 Store directly through the Online Blizzard Store—no need to have a BlizzCon ticket or Virtual Ticket in order to participate. Here’s a sampling of the legendary loot you’ll find:

You’ll find lots of other stuff too, including select items from past BlizzCon events, though keep in mind supplies are limited. Head to the online Blizzard Store’s BlizzCon storefront to begin browsing, or click More Products > BlizzCon from the Blizzard Store home page.

Check out the Post-BlizzCon Sale now!

Shipping Note: Orders will be shipped from the United States, so international shipping rates may apply.

OpenRaid Event - Glory of the Thundering Turkey
OpenRaid is hosting and encouraging players to host raids to complete the Glory of the Thundering Raider achievement and earn the Armored Skyscreamer mount. Only 0.5% of players have this achievement!

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

[moveth]

Im glad that Flex is doing well.

[PuppetShowJustice]

The big unannounced feature was canceled. But it was actually two things. And one of those things is merely delayed.

...does anyone else feel like the big unannounced feature was scrapped and they're just trying to cover for it by doing something else?

[Zemiki]

I tank a LFR once, and since I only ever healed it and simply asked "how do I tank this boss?" and just wanted to know of anything special and got annoyed at the responses.
I will never tank again because people are idiots. If you want to wait 30min in queue then all you have to blame is yourselves, no one else.

[Vongimi]

Wait... is that the same unannounced feature they were talking about that was to come with 5.4?!?!??! So there is something else big that is unannounced!??!?! Gah, delaying it that long is gonna get people's expectations WAY to high, and you will hear a great wailing and grinding of teeth when it finally comes.

[nekobaka]

So the pro-LFR anti-Flex camp of players complaining about queues tanking due to Flex taking away players has GC pointing fingers back at LFR players for playing a roll in tank queues dropping.

I am glad to see proving grounds doing well and interests to keep working on it to improve its use as a tool for players who want to improve themselves. It is also nice to see Flex tech bringing in far more flexability to the organized raiding scene in particular with the developers trying to kill the PuG raiding scene in favor of the random queue system.

The big unannounced feature was canceled. But it was actually two things. And one of those things is merely delayed.

...does anyone else feel like the big unannounced feature was scrapped and they're just trying to cover for it by doing something else?

Just looking at all the new stuff brought in I am all the more curious what the developers was thinking of. It is possible that the delayed feature is the scaling down thing which is on the list of ongoing projects. I dont see what is wrong with replacing a scrapped project with something else when the alternative is getting nothing.

[Miatog]

Here I thought the big feature was flex raiding!

[Vongimi]

The big unannounced feature was canceled. But it was actually two things. And one of those things is merely delayed.

...does anyone else feel like the big unannounced feature was scrapped and they're just trying to cover for it by doing something else?

When 5.4 came and went, I think most assumed they were talking about Flex. Haven't heard any discussion on the "unannounced feature" since then. They could have just not mentioned it if that was the case, but they did. Though this certainly points towards scaling characters down for old instances.

[Miatog]

I tank a LFR once, and since I only ever healed it and simply asked "how do I tank this boss?" and just wanted to know of anything special and got annoyed at the responses.
I will never tank again because people are idiots. If you want to wait 30min in queue then all you have to blame is yourselves, no one else.

I don't have myself to blame because I always do my best to answer every question honestly. I clearly have the jerks you've seen to blame.

[Mouri Kogorou]

the interview was made before blizzcon, so there is a chance that this "unannounced" feature is already announced (garrisons maybe ?).

still i want to know what was the "cancelled" feature though...

[Febronia]

I tank a LFR once, and since I only ever healed it and simply asked "how do I tank this boss?" and just wanted to know of anything special and got annoyed at the responses.
I will never tank again because people are idiots. If you want to wait 30min in queue then all you have to blame is yourselves, no one else.

TRANSLATION:

I rolled a Tank into LFR without reading up on the fights and expected to inconvenience 24 other players by asking them how to do my job. Blame the terrible tanks that can't be arsed to read boss mechanics for the 30 min queue times.

[nekobaka]

TRANSLATION:

I rolled a Tank into LFR without reading up on the fights and expected to inconvenience 24 other players by asking them how to do my job. Blame the terrible tanks that can't be arsed to read boss mechanics for the 30 min queue times.

And yet DPS dont get held to this standard?

[Febronia]

And yet DPS dont get held to this standard?

Honey, if you're one of the DPS in LFR doing under 100k, then yes, you're being judged too.

[YeahNo]

Honey, if you're one of the DPS in LFR doing under 100k, then yes, you're being judged too.

Calling people honey is incredibly condescending, which is probably why you did it, but in case you weren't aware, it's a jerk move.

Regarding DPS in LFR doing under 100k: They might be getting judged, but they aren't getting kicked. I very rarely go into LFR, but the dozen or so I've seen have had tons of DPS below 100k, a couple people remark afterwards lol terribad dps, then move on. There is rarely any discussion about kicking those bad DPS.

However, if a tank misses even one gouge on He, DPS scream bloody murder to kick the tank. Should that tank be kicked for failing? Sure, if every DPS under 100k were to be kicked as well, which would be damn near half of them.

[Granyala]

I'd love to buy something, but as usual the fun is US only, since I don't have a credit card. :/

[DetectiveJohnKimble]

In the past, they said that the unannounced feature was supposed to be about doing old content. It seems like the Timewalker mode has either been cancelled or is a feature for WoD that hasn't been announced yet due to technical limitations.

[Pacster]

Calling people honey is incredibly condescending, which is probably why you did it, but in case you weren't aware, it's a jerk move.

Regarding DPS in LFR doing under 100k: They might be getting judged, but they aren't getting kicked.

That is true. The problem is, that you can pull some crappy dd's through lfr....with a crappy tank you are screwed. You can go without 2-3 dds...with 1 healer missing...but you need those 2 tanks.
Then there is the problem that if one tank does not know what to do, there is only one other tank to explain it to him....cause not every dd knows exactly what a tank has to do in a particular encounter(just like tanks often don't know everything about the healer or dd job). If you have no idea of an encounter as a tank then it will be very obvious within the first minute of the fight.
And last but not least you got many tanks that behave like "F*** you all!"-divas screwing over entire raids very well knowing that if they leave then the raid is dead. If you check for quitters that leave raids because "the raid is not good enough for them."and compare that to the number of tanks, healers and dds in such a raid then the percentage of tanks and healers that quit is way higher than that of dds(at least my experience).

I think it would be solved if tanks would be less mandatory. On the one hand a bad tank would then not hurt so much...and on the other hand tanks would actually have to try hard to earn their spot. We would need encounters where 3 tanks would be a benefit(even if one of them is crap)...but if there is just 1 tank then the encounter should be possible too. The current situation leads to diva-tanks and on the other hand players that always expect tanks to be perfect(cause if they ain't it always results in a wipe)...

[Zstr]

Wait... is that the same unannounced feature they were talking about that was to come with 5.4?!?!??! So there is something else big that is unannounced!??!?! Gah, delaying it that long is gonna get people's expectations WAY to high, and you will hear a great wailing and grinding of teeth when it finally comes.

I think it was for 5.5 , but they cancel patch, so feature delayed for WoD, and they also scrapped half of it as they didn't like how it went

[asphyx5]

The drop in the number of tanks in Raid Finder is partially due to how they are treated. (If you want faster queues, be nice to your tanks!)

Is Ghostcrawler trolling?

[Soeroah]

Bringing the unannounced feature phrase back feels kinda like they're just reigniting hype. I'm sure plenty of people were satisfied with flex raiding.


So, 'one was cancelled and one was delayed'? We know Timewalking is in the game, and they've said they just don't want to enable it until they have a good way to reward players for doing it. I'm guessing Timewalking is the 'delayed' feature.

The 'cancelled' feature? Hmm...I have no idea. I don't think any near-feature was ever datamined in Pandaria and not implemented?