It just won't feel as EPIC!

[Magpai]

Relative damage = all that matters to me.

Said everyone with a brain.

[jasdasm]

if we crit for 50k i can actually live with that ... i just dont wanna see "2k crits"

[Osmeric]

Devs explained yesterday that one of the reason for the squish is because they use an unsigned binary system. Switching to signed would let them keep it as is without the hassles that unsigned binaries bring to such big numbers, but, of course, there are other reasons on top of that which they have and won't reveal.

Um, actually, that's not correct. A signed 32 bit system can handle numbers up to (2^31)-1, vs. (2^32)-1 for an unsigned system.

The actual problem is the 32, not the signed/unsigned.

[Asmekiel]

The issue has nothing to do with whether the processor is 32 or 64 bit.

Didn't say it did.

[Normie]

The math the server is having to crunch on raid damage must be pretty intense now, I can't imagine the latency when servers have to crunch numbers in excess of seven digits in real time.

This has always been a silly excuse. While it's possible/likely that some values have started to exceed the computational range of their types (32-bit integer, 0-~4 billion), nowadays floating point computations are extremely fast (so fast that they aren't even a selling point any more), and 15 digits can be represented precisely with IEEE double precision floating point, which is the most commonly used floating point type.

There are other very good reasons for the change, gameplay and aesthetics being the most important ones.

[pung9]

I would like to suggest Blizzard put in some 'atta boys' voice overs, like from Quake 3... "HEAD SHOT!" "KILLING SPREE!" and the ever popular, "GOD-LIKE!" needs to come over the speakers when we slap our anemic foes with ice-cube melting fireballs and drink-chilling frost bolts.

Not sure if any ones mentioned it yet but theres already an addon that does this

Its called GodLike! and here it is http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/god-like-svenson

It hasnt been updated since 4.3 but it should still work.

Imagine this.... At least that's what came to my mind, when I've read the OP..



Everytime one crits, those speech bubbles pop up with ZING.. BOOM... BANG.....

In a dungeon/raid etc, it be sort of like this

Theres also an addon that does that too its called Comix and here it is http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/comix-the-return

[SL1200]

Stress wasn't the issue. Blowing through what can be represented in 32 bit integers was the issue.

Guess what? That's not even true, watcher tweeted about it yesterday. There was no technical limitation forcing the squish.

https://twitter.com/WatcherDev

[axhed]

Guess what? That's not even true, watcher tweeted about it yesterday. There was no technical limitation forcing the squish.

https://twitter.com/WatcherDev

bull.shit. if there was no technical limitation then why do so many bosses have phases built around the 2.1b number?

It's a design call, not a technical one. We don't want to see +13759 Strength helms.

because +4397 int bracers are still aesthetically pleasing, right?

[SL1200]

Read the tweet.

Watcher ‏@WatcherDev 13h

@FlawlessLogic1 You can blame me if you like. It's a design call, not a technical one. We don't want to see +13759 Strength helms.


@Supersubwoofer 13h

@WatcherDev @FlawlessLogic1 so it was a lie when they told us it was a technical limitation. Great. Stay classy blizzard developers.


Watcher ‏@WatcherDev 11h

@Supersubwoofer Designers aren't programmers, and not every inaccurate statement is a lie. It WAS a technical hurdle, but not insurmountable

[Osmeric]

Guess what? That's not even true, watcher tweeted about it yesterday. There was no technical limitation forcing the squish.

https://twitter.com/WatcherDev

He said:

"It was a technical hurdle"

So, stop lying please? Of course it was surmountable; just a small matter of programming, right? But that would have a cost. The squish was the better solution.

One cost not squishing would have is that the communication protocol between clients and servers would have to be redesigned. The data packets have a certain number of bits for the various numbers flying around, and these fields would have to be expanded. This has a cost in programming time, in reliability (think of all the new bugs that would be introduced), and would have an ongoing cost in bandwidth and latency, which would affect gameplay.

[Arenis]

You forgot the most memorable one:
M-M-M-M-M-MONSTERKILL...kill....kill...

[AslanLionJesus]

You'll only not feel epic for a month or so at most. Then the numbers will just make sense again. The item squish is absolutely mandatory at this point in the games life.

[Deleted]

I wonder if someone will develop an addon to re-inflate the numbers?

That would be pretty pathetic.

[Deleted]

You'll only not feel epic for a month or so at most. Then the numbers will just make sense again. The item squish is absolutely mandatory at this point in the games life.

Strange...

When I played WoW and started raiding, a Mage had 3k hp and spells were hiting for less than 1000 damage and yet the game still felt extremely epic... way more epic than today when I think back of the time I've seen Ragnaros poping out of the magmalake.

[Deleted]

He said:

"It was a technical hurdle"

So, stop lying please? Of course it was surmountable; just a small matter of programming, right? But that would have a cost. The squish was the better solution.

One cost not squishing would have is that the communication protocol between clients and servers would have to be redesigned. The data packets have a certain number of bits for the various numbers flying around, and these fields would have to be expanded. This has a cost in programming time, in reliability (think of all the new bugs that would be introduced), and would have an ongoing cost in bandwidth and latency, which would affect gameplay.

I think the dev made it quite clear that it was more a design decision not a technical one.

[SL1200]

He said:

"It was a technical hurdle"

So, stop lying please? Of course it was surmountable; just a small matter of programming, right? But that would have a cost. The squish was the better solution.

One cost not squishing would have is that the communication protocol between clients and servers would have to be redesigned. The data packets have a certain number of bits for the various numbers flying around, and these fields would have to be expanded. This has a cost in programming time, in reliability (think of all the new bugs that would be introduced), and would have an ongoing cost in bandwidth and latency, which would affect gameplay.

Now i'm lying, even though the developer clearly said there was no technical reason for the squish. All you got is insults osmeric. You bought into misinformation from blizzard.

[ACES]

Numbers are totally irrelevant in this game; it's relative scaling that matters. I bet you're one of those people who inspects random people to see if you're better than them.

[Randomdude17]

I just want to know what the lore is concerning the squish.

Uh... Why would it have lore? You aren't getting weaker, you are seeing smaller numbers...

[snackfeat]

I just want to know what the lore is concerning the squish.

Damage and health numbers don't even exist in lore, so there will be zero lore concerning the squish.

Lorewise you would never be able to solo old content raid bosses.

[Osmeric]

Now i'm lying, even though the developer clearly said there was no technical reason for the squish.

He said the technical obstacles to avoiding the squish weren't insurmountable. That doesn't mean the technical obstacles weren't still real, and it doesn't mean it was worth the cost of surmounting them. I pointed out some of the technical issues there. The cost of those issues would be nontrivial. Avoiding those costs is a technical reason for prefering a squish. The existing software works and is mature, so if the problem can be adequately fixed by a higher level design change, there is much to be said for taking that approach (especially if it has other desirable properties from a design perspective, as I will agree it has.)