Warlords of Draenor Dev Interview, Season 15 Begins, Season 14 Titles, Blue Tweets

[chaud]

Diablo III - Patch 2.0.1 Notes

Hearthside Chat - Art with Ben Thompson

Planned Alpha Wipe with Reward for Testing Real Money Purchase, Datamined Facts Behind the Heroes Free to Play Model

Warlords of Draenor Developer Interviews
There were a few developer interviews at the recent press events, so today we are taking a look at interviews with Ion Hazzikostas from Eurogamer and Brian Holinka from PlayersCut.

Eurogamer

• The Level 90 boost is being sold to allow players that would have purchased multiple copies of WoW to get more Level 90 characters to do so in a more reasonable way.
• The price point was decided upon to avoid devaluing the accomplishment of leveling a character to 90.
• If Blizzard's goal was to sell as many boosts as possible, they would have set the price lower.
• The price point wasn't selected to maximize profit, just to represent the amount of time that it takes to level to 90.

PlayersCut

• The team has already started planning for the next two expansions.
• Removing arena teams was an important part of increasing participation in arenas.
• There is a lot of Garrison content that comes from having followers.
• Patch 6.0 isn't the end of new content for Garrisons, as more content can be added as the expansion progresses.
• The devs know that some kind of Garrison PvP sounds really cool, but there aren't any solid plans yet.
• Ashran has a lot of players taking part in the battle, but they are spread out so that performance doesn't suffer. Ashran has a fortress for each faction, as well as capture points spread around the outside of the zone that are beneficial to hold. There will likely be a larger central battle with other battles going on around the outer part of the zone.
• There aren't any plans for mobile content for WoW right now.
• The technology for character model animation was finally at a point where models could updated for this expansion. Character models had also started to look outdated compared to some of the newer art assets in the game. The Pandaren were the test for new character models, and using lessons learned from them the team can update all of the other races.
• There are so many older armor models that it isn't possible to go back and update them all. The team can use them as inspiration for new armor sets though.

PvP Season 15 Begins
Season 15 gear uses the same models as Season 14, but with different colors available to each faction.

With weapons at the ready and armor secured, it’s time to kick off PvP Season 15! The playing field is even once more, and this is your chance to prove that true grit and steely determination are what it takes to become a champion. So grab your most trusted companions and teach your enemies the true definition of fear!

Before you set foot in an Arena or on a Battleground, keep in mind we’ve made a few changes this season:

• Conquest gear is now Item Level 550
• The Dampening debuff will be applied in 2v2 matches 5 minutes after the start of an Arena match, and games will reach a draw at 20 minutes. Dampening decreases the effectiveness of healing spells by 1% every 10 seconds.
• Base Resilience is now 77% (up from 72%).
• Battle Fatigue is now 65% (up from 55%).

Good luck, champions—may the most bloodthirsty warriors win!

Season 14 Titles

These titles and achievements were indeed given out erroneously, and we're in the process of applying some fixes that will remove them from characters below level 90.

One additional clarification, since we've seen this question come up elsewhere: These titles went out completely separately from the ladder, and thus did not affect the number of titles given to max-level players in any way. No one is missing titles due to this error.

Blue Tweets

Classes
I'd like to point out Life Tap, which changes to a passive and maintains its bar position for destruction. I like that.
Seems like there has been much confusion about this tweet. It refers to how 3 active talents share 1 button without macros. (Celestalon)
What if it's a tier where one of the talents is passive? It will be an empty slot then?
Then we likely would not make the other two share a button like that. (Celestalon)
Couldn't talents be adjusted so that they can be made into one skill slot. Tiger's Lust is the only ability 1/2
No, we don't want to constrict our design space to 'only new buttons' or 'no new buttons' for a row. Mixtures are great sometimes (Celestalon)
So stuff like the warrior tier with Bladestorm etc
Yes; we could make Shockwave, Dragon Roar, and Bladestorm all share a button, so you don't have to swap after retalenting. (Celestalon)
Would it be Macro-able? Like "/cast Tier3Talent" or something?
Something like that. Mages already can do /cast Mage Bomb. (Celestalon)

Cool or Uncool: Instead of separate spells, procs like Pyro/MC change upgrade Fireball/Shadowbolt. #ButtonBloatProbz
We think we could do a lot more spell replacement. (holinka)

Personally, maintaining %dmg buffs is not interesting gameplay. There's a reason ISF got cut from Destro.
It depends on *how* you maintain it. If it just happens, it's just rampup. If your rotation molds around it, it can be cool/fun. (Celestalon)
could we rebalance lavalash to not require flame imbue? it doesnt feel like weapon imbues are optional at all
Weapon imbues are not intended to be optional. (Celestalon)
Not saying imbues should necces be passive, but if they are active they need to provide meaningful gameplay.
When you get to the point of complaining about the maintenance upkeep of a 1hr buff, that persists through death... (Celestalon)

What are your thoughts on passive immunities like dematerialize & subterfuge, Holinka? Are they staying for WoD?
Not committed to either staying. (holinka)

Art
Will the new char. models change Tauren male dual weilding's graphic to stop the left hand weapon from slanting to the left?
Yes; the latest in-progress version has the weapon turned around completely and clipping into your crotch. (I'd hope so.) (Dave_Maldo)

Character / Items
Why is there a need for catch up loot? Why are we encouraged to skip old tiers of content in every expac?
Many reasons. A big one is so that the playerbase is centralized; easier for guild recruiting, playing with friends, etc. (Celestalon)

Warlords of Draenor Stats
passive != fun! is math not fun? is altering your fantasy incarnation via the universal language useful?
We're not making stats more/less passive. Math is fun. I don't understand what your issue is. I suspect a misunderstanding. (Celestalon)
excuse my bad jokes. just that balancing stats, building different gear sets for different situations, etc, was a lot of fun. ->
And still will be. We're not getting rid of that, at all. (Celestalon)

Obv, I'm talking about Active Mitigation scaling. If Multistrike provides only dps/threat, it will be a garbage stat for tanks.
All secondary stats will be of defensive value for tanks. Some may be passive mitigation, some may be active mitigation. (Celestalon)

PvP
Can you please clarify the requirements for Hero of the Horde/Alliance?
let's say there's 1000 ppl above 1000, then top 5 get hero. If #5 doesn't have 50 games, then #6 gets hero. (holinka)

Have you guys considered random starting locations and horde v horde, af v af in random bgs? (maybe not all)
many players find the faction swap in RBGs quite jarring. Not something we want to expand on. (holinka)

I dont think you ever commented on what you think the prob is in AV/IOC. Thoughts?
IoC I blame mostly on a bug in 5.3 where Alliance could leave gates early and win most games. (holinka)
This damaged the hivemind view of Horde win chance in the bg and so sophisticated horde avoid it. (holinka)
AV has map problems, but Horde also avoid it, making the situation even worse. (holinka)
Some might think map design is only problem but even on mirrored maps, one faction fares better. (holinka)
Much obliged; very relieved to hear the AV map is suspect. I've said this for awhile. Thanks!
Woah, easy there. I said it has problems, but I'm not sure they are HUGE problems. (holinka)
Not to be rude but if you know AV has problems, why has nothing been done in 8+ years?
AV has gone through a lot of change in 8 years (holinka)

Final win to loss ratio 4 ally in ioc: 100 wins, 2 losses. How do devs look at those stats and call them fair-balanced?
We've been pretty clear on saying there's a problem but it's more complicated to fix than some players think. (holinka)

Heroes of the Storm - Illidan
Illidan is just one of the WoW characters that appear in Heroes of the Storm! (He also comes with a normal skin that we looked at recently)

[moveth]

I have said from the start. 60$ is a fair and correct price.

[Enan1981]

Woah, 2 more expansions? :O

[Benomatic]

I really don't see a need to buy a 90 though?

[Deleted]

I really don't see a need to buy a 90 though?

The problem was that they were offering the 90 boost as part a WoD expansion purchase and if they hadn't made it available this way, then people would have just bought multiple copies of WoD instead and then transferred the free 90's to their main account.

[zombiekiller2223]

I really don't see a need to buy a 90 though?

because levelling sucks and it takes forever and I never want to do it again after 5 ults and I want all classes so eventually I will buy the 90s

[Zstr]

those horde crying over AV&IoC...qq
it's lazy players wanting fast win\points not map!, if you want win you go and stop alliance glaives,sieges,ship,defend bunkers,bosses ,instead of rushing to one point and afk waiting for miracle...

[Decisive The Hallowed]

Woah, 2 more expansions? :O

Blizzard had stated at Blizzcon they are already planning ahead with more expansions already, like they said, WoD will flow into the next Expansion.

[druvirus]

I really don't see a need to buy a 90 though?

The good thing is that if you don't see the need to buy a 90 then you don't have to buy a 90.

But, as for me, .. if I had the cash to blow I might do so. Why? Because I already have fully leveled up two level 90 Alliance Rogues on different realms. I raid on both regularly (along with other alts). But I have friends on another realm (and on Horde) that I want to raid with. Now, keep in mind that I already know how to play a Rogue. I'm QUITE good if I do say so myself. But leveling up a third Rogue to level 100? Incredibly boring and tedious. This would help me get another toon that I could raid with my friends on while letting me not have to suffer through the exact same leveling I have already done before.

[Deleted]

The problem was that they were offering the 90 boost as part a WoD expansion purchase and if they hadn't made it available this way, then people would have just bought multiple copies of WoD instead and then transferred the free 90's to their main account.

Then they should only make the 90 boost available to people that own all the expansions including WoD and which the account already holds a level 90

[Elemynt]

Doesn't matter how they try to color it. Still devalues the game. For any player with even one max level character, leveling another is pathetically easy and fast already with BOA equipment. They will see a number of people buying into this nonsense and find they can make even more profit. To me they are heavily crossing the "Pay to Win" line with this and it will only get worse as they continue to add more "Conveniences". Some of you actually like this. Or argue about not having enough time to play(Even though that is largely your own problem). This stuff kills games. It's a down hill slope once pay to win enters the fray. I love wow and have been playing it since early classic. To see Blizzard going down this road is depressing.

[Gandilf]

I really don't see a need to buy a 90 though?

True. I already have 11 90's on one server. The only thing I'd get out of it is gear-upgrade to 489 as the last char to get to 90 was a couple of weeks ago and only have greens and blues atm.

[Immitis]

fel illidan is one of the coolest things ive ever seen. its right up there with godzilla

[Deliverer]

I would like an update to Classic and tbc tier sets at least. Since they are The most popular trasmog sets. Rest is just fine as it is now.

[Stacie]

Then they should only make the 90 boost available to people that own all the expansions including WoD and which the account already holds a level 90

The whole point in starting at level 90 is so you can jump right into action with friends and/or experience the new content. Gating in the way you say would go totally against the point.

[Amnix]

• The Level 90 boost is being sold to allow players that would have purchased multiple copies of WoW to get more Level 90 characters to do so in a more reasonable way.

BULLSHIT! If they didn't want this to be a thing, they could simply not give any boost at all, and keep the game a bit more respectful. Level boost is one of the worst P2W that exists.

[Keosen]

BULLSHIT! If they didn't want this to be a thing, they could simply not give any boost at all, and keep the game a bit more respectful. Level boost is one of the worst P2W that exists.

Do you understand how much time consuming 1-100 will be?
Stop with the P2W bullshit, it's just a very expensive shortcut for someone who got money and not enough time, being max level doesn't wins you anything if you are incapable of end gaming PvP or PvE.

[Tenjen]

except you don't win anything.

you gain an advantage of what...a few days? 2 or 3? you still start at 90 like the vast majority of present players. Leveling to 90 is fast and insignificant anyway.

What advantage will you gain in those 2-3 days? Total content completion and gearing up takes months (unless you're a top heroic guild, in which case they're in a league of their own and are a minor section of the population ontop of that and are in no way relatable to the mass wow public. They're all gonna take whatever advantage they can at whatever investment needed to do so, so all things will be equal amongst them anyway) The limit on drops (due to RNG), badge tokens (or wod equivalent) earning limits by week and max amount, bonus roll limits by week and max amount and the other various limits on progress that stretch it into weeks and months means that an advantage of 2-3 days in a sea of players who are already at your level...

...is completely insiginificant and within 1 week at minimum, 2 at best so everyone else has caught up with you and you have made no significant progress to speak of over anyone else already within the initial progress run by everyone at the start of the expansion.

[Deleted]

Vovohard: what is pay to win on level 90 boost i have now 12x lvl90 and only waiting for connect realms to create more like a pre farm characters for garrisons i dont use any boosts bots or any other garbage with heirlooms its something about 50hours of gametime and level 90 not means you have sure place in raid.

[Deleted]

BULLSHIT! If they didn't want this to be a thing, they could simply not give any boost at all, and keep the game a bit more respectful. Level boost is one of the worst P2W that exists.

As if your level had something to do with how you perform in maxlevel content...

It's more of a milestone you have to cross to actually make your character ready für maxlevel content, nothing to do with P2W at all!