Frostfire Ridge Preview, Connected Realms Update, Blue Tweets, Wowcraft Episode 4

[chaud]

Josh Mosqueira Teasing About 2.0.5, [Datamined] Unlisted Legendary Items, Theorycraft Thursdays: Squirrel's "Barbaricare" Barb

Curse of Naxxramas - Warrior Weapon Card Revealed - Death's Bite, Official Patch notes - 1.0.0.5314

Daily Quest Time Adjustment, Town Hall #12

Warlords of Draenor - Frostfire Ridge Preview
Tonight we are taking a look at some Frostfire Ridge gameplay and screenshots!

Connected Realms Update 5/08
Both US and EU realm connections appear to be officially on hold now.

*Please note that further realm connections are on hold pending further back end work. We don't have an ETA on when these will resume, but we'll update this thread and the blog post once connections resume.

Blue Tweets

Classes
IMO only cast times and nearly nothing else is just as bad as spam-instants. Neither make interesting situations.
Well, philospohically, all-cast-times would be better than all-instants. However, we're at neither of those extremes. (Celestalon)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Any changes to death knight presences? They are pretty much just passive aura buttons and do nothing to gameplay.
They're exclusive passive bonuses. Some gameplay, though not a lot. But doesn't need to be a lot. (Celestalon)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Why was tranq made resto only? Some of my favorite moments through the years were clutch tranq saves as a feral
Because we're reducing stackable raid utility like that. Want to return raid survival to being the healers' job. (Celestalon)
But yet Mage raid CD is stackable with any throughput healer CD, how do you not see that as a potential issue?
Errr... That's the point? Perhaps a misunderstanding of the goal? (Celestalon)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
http://t.co/gw9GjjjVjl This thread basically sums up most thoughts on KS. The second charge is terrible and unreliable.
Kill Shot will take less than 1/3 as long, including latency, to reset, in Warlords. We expect that will solve it. (Celestalon)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
how is the pandemic effect on dots going to effect Living Bomb explosion?
Just like it works today, except with a 3.6sec overlap time, instead of [3/Haste]sec. (Celestalon)
Would this lead to situation where you always want to refresh LB at that point throughout a fight to get more explosions?
No... That's the point. (Celestalon)

You said there are too many raid cooldowns and now you make a new one for mages. Why?
Because we want to reduce them overall, but also balance them better. That means giving a small one to specs that have none. (Celestalon)
6 raid cds at 100% effectiveness vs. 12 raid cds at 50% seems like no change besides more logistical headaches.
Yes, but how about against 8 raid CDs at 50%? That's more accurately comparable to what we're doing. (Celestalon)
Why not just give them to healers/tanks? That way nobody stacks certain DPSers due to raid CDs?
A fair question. The answer is that we don't feel it's reasonable to completely remove them all. (Celestalon)
Do we cut Safeguard? Stampeding Roar? Demonic Portal? Sacred Shield? How many new talents would we have to create to fill holes? (Celestalon)

Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Are you taking away the snare from Fists of Fury for Windwalkers?
You mean the stun? Nope. You can glyph it to trade the stun for the ability to move during it. (Celestalon)

Can all eminence healing be tied to statue?
No, you don't want that. (Celestalon)
Also, can the cd be removed from statue? Is there any -real- reason it has a cd to begin with?
Well, it's so that you care about the position you choose, and don't feel like you're expected to constantly move it. (Celestalon)
However, a decent argument could be made that 30sec is more restrictive than is needed for that purpose. We'll discuss it. (Celestalon)
Removing the global would be a step, 30 seconds would be fine if it didn't cost a global.
No, that'd be terrible. Not being on the global would imply that you are absolutely supposed to min/max its placement on every CD. (Celestalon)

Or just like... make the statue do something else. It's pretty boring.
Soothing Mist and Eminence; one thing per stance. (Celestalon)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
seems we could ignore the current twisting talent as prot will only have two seals.
Prot will indeed likely not use Seal of Insight much, without Empowered Seals. (Celestalon)
confused; if insight doesn't give prot haste or heal procs what would it do?
Increased healing done. (Celestalon)

Warriors getting defensive benefits from crit; Paladins nothing? Insight loosing 10% haste, Righteous still to little dmg to use
Yeah, this is all confusion. A) There's no more spell haste, just full haste. B) Holy Shield is likely undertuned; haven't tuned... (Celestalon)
...yet. C) Paladins get the exact same defensive benefit from Crit that Warriors do. D) Spell Haste from Insight didn't benefit... (Celestalon)
...you as Prot anyway. E) Righteousness will be worth using in the next build. (Celestalon)
thank you for responses. How did insight haste not help EF ticks? Seems like we have no good tanking seal now?
We're moving the heal-on-hit proc from Seal of Insight to a Prot passive. We'll expect Prot and Ret to use Truth and Rightousness. (Celestalon)
On that topic, what sort of gameplay can we expect from Paladin seals in general? (for all specs)
Ret/Prot will swap Seals more than Holy will. Seal of Righteousness will convert Crusader Strike into Hammer of the Righteousness (Celestalon)
Curious. Wonder if Righteous will apply the Truth DoT now? That would be a welcome addition!
No, it won't. (Celestalon)

concerning emp seals, any chance you guys are taking seals off of gcd and they share their own? Would feel clunky otherwise
While it's an option, continue down that line of thinking. Where does it lead? What happens to your rotation? What buttons are used? (Celestalon)

Priest (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
.I assume a POM from the SAME priest will overwrite, and POM has 'weird' bouncing rules... some protection might be warranted
I don't believe there's anything to protect it from bouncing to a target that already has your PoM (overwriting), but it goes to... (Celestalon)
...a random injured target now, not the most injured, so that will be unlikely. (Celestalon)
well there wouldn't be anything now, you can't have more than 1 out. I would assume you could have more than 1 out with WOMPOM
We're actually trying letting you have more than one out, anyway. (Celestalon)

Since casting POM on a DI proc, could both be your final WOMPOM stack.... and both overwrite/cancel at the same time. No?
OK, we're going to try making it not bounce to targets you already have a PoM on. (Celestalon)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
with the new echo of the elements talent with resto shaman is it possible to have two healing rains down at one time?
Yes. (Celestalon)

any hope that earthquake could be shorter cast time or instant? Very frustrating to use no matter how much damage it does vs CL
No; cast time spells are good for gameplay. (Celestalon)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
I was wondering if SB: Haunt would consume 2 soulshards to use. That's what started this Twitter bomb.
Yes. Soulburn costs a shard, then Haunt costs a shard. You get the Buff and the DD/Debuff. (Celestalon)

Art
So how about hiding shoulders, then? Diff topic!
No current plans, but I can definitely see the appeal, especially for various cloth transmog looks. (WatcherDev)

Can we have new spell visual for melee (Rogue/War) that are concerned? SS/Ambush/RvS have the same visual to not mention others.
Yeah, melee abilities tend to rely on animation more than visual effects, but we can definitely do more to make them feel epic. (WatcherDev)

Character / Items
have you guys thought about set bonuses for making gear be best for PVE or PVP?
Past set bonuses made an effort to do that. It was never enough. (holinka)

Warlords of Draenor Stats
Yea, it's a bit odd for tanks too. Stack Readiness to get another shield wall for a boss special or why get any?
Luckily, it affects more than just 3min cooldowns. (Celestalon)

Gladstance going to disable Bonus Armor on gear? also does the armor factor into ilvl? I.E. Armor item on fury = less crit stat?
Bonus Armor will actually provide DPS value for tanks. Yes, it's part of the item's budget. (Celestalon)
any tidbits about how? Thorns? Armored to the teeth? some new fangled quirky thing?
A passive, Bladed Armor. Increases Attack Power by 100% of your Bonus Armor. (NOTE: Just *Bonus* Armor, not ALL Armor) (Celestalon)

PvE
Will reincarnation consume a combat ress charge?
No, just like with today's system, Reincarnation is a personal benefit that is outside the raid-level rules. (WatcherDev)

PvP
what is your opinion on the reflect meta-gem that is picked by almost 80% of all healer & even some dps classes in arena
It's a bit curious as the chance is small. What are your thoughts about it? (holinka)

if someone is pvp tagged in wod, and i heal them, will my ilevel increase too?
yes (holinka)

Regarding gear having 2 ilvls... If an Ally raid is fighting a World Boss and 1 Horde AoEs them, the raid gets their ilvls buffed?
Yes, people could get into PvP to buff their DPS against world boss. It's a downside we can live with due to the upsides. (holinka)
I'm just afraid it will be abused by people going for world 1st leveling, since they usually take a friend from another faction...
I really don't think we should not do the right thing for PvP because of a concern about world first leveling. (holinka)

Don't you fear that some might exploit the ilvl activation on PvP in PvE (e.g. world bosses) for dps boost to the boss?
It might happen but we're not concerned about it. (holinka)

did you say solo queue skirmishes?
I did (holinka)

will there be hidden MMR in WoD skirmishes? please say yes
Yes..but the matchmaking will be more focused on speed (i.e. we'll expand the search faster than say Rated Arenas) (holinka)

can't wait to try out wod! Pvp is looking solid. Only concern is will pve gear still scale down in pvp instance?
only mythic (holinka)
my fear would mainly be legendaries, that would not be mythic. Would legendaries scale down in pvp instances too?
The ilevel ceiling will work similar to now. PvP gear will ignore it but Mythic gear (& Legendaries if it applies) will be reduced. (holinka)

I am curious about this as well, how can we see/compare the PVP stats when not in PVP?
Hm, I see, so you're saying the ability to see what the stats will be when PvP, not just the ilevel. (holinka)
We haven't developed final solution for tooltip, but added this to video to illustrate the intent. (holinka)
Certainly good to get feedback on initial reaction. (holinka)

If my HP is 80k/100k; Horde hits me and max HP becomes 120k, does my HP stay at 80k or go to 96k (80%)?
It stays relative so 96k. (holinka)

Why does PvE and PvP gear have to be different? Why can't they be the same item just obtained from different means?
Conquest gear needs to at least match the best available raid gear for PvP, but is much more accessible by design. (WatcherDev)

[i]we want this a lot but our UI time is heavily constrained so we can't promise it. (Russ Petersen)
Yes, unfortunately a "PvP mode" on the character pane is a big technical challenge. (holinka)
Also: you'll always be in "PvP mode" on Ashran, where gear vendors are.
And there will be a PvP dummy to put yourself in combat. (holinka)
But still, gear tooltips can be improved. (holinka)

How about everyone can join the PvP Beta realm for better PvP testing? Other content is deactivated so no spoilers.. consider it!
That will be the case. Anyone will be able to join the PvP Beta realm and all non-PvP content will be inaccessible. (holinka)
Just to clarify, that's anyone in beta. (holinka)

Professions
quick question, with glyphs been gained as one levels, is it a waste to have inscription now compared to other professions?
Not at all; it's just a handful of level-up glyphs to ease new players into the system. Most glyphs still come from scribes. (WatcherDev)

Lore
You do realize that timetravel to the past is impossible because of closedform timecurves?Hawking &Carroll are isomorphic on this
yeah I don't get worked up about stuff like that. I'm more about the fiction than the science. But can understand why some ppl do (holinka)

Wowcraft Episode 4 - Training Dummy
Episode 4 of Wowcraft has been released.

[TrollShaman]

b-but windrunner-darrowmere needs merges with horde populated servers soon ;~;

edit: dat hp squish

[Deleted]

any hope that earthquake could be shorter cast time or instant? Very frustrating to use no matter how much damage it does vs CL
No; cast time spells are good for gameplay.

ZERO insight or accepting community feedback. And a big FU from my side.. you'll never get my money again.

[Time Sage]

....And there goes the last bit of hope I had for Shattered hand to get an ally heavy sever to even it out...

[OmniSkribe]

I really don't like new Horde Character Creation music. So sad.

[Mouri Kogorou]

wowcraft episode wasn't as great as the previous ones.

[Deleted]

Hmm, wonder where they got the key they claim to be legit.

[Deleted]

Did someone really ask that science question about wow....10 years in, with time travel, dimension travel, talking spacegoats, murlocs and what have you, I think it may be time to concede that gamplay > reality......

Also, he sounds damm certain for what is only a model of physics.

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

They connected the realm i play on with 2 alliance heavy realms. Horde is slightly less dead but we are probably outnumbered by about 10 to 1

The fact that they still have paid transfers open is just disgusting. How about closing or increasing the cost to high/full realms and making it free to dead realms, or just close it all together? Its been a long time since they announced it and released the patch. Every realm before must have had less then 10 people during prime time

[Enan1981]

Feels like Borean Tundra 2.0 horde base...

[OneSent]

Feels like Borean Tundra 2.0 horde base...

I agree. Ever since they first revealed the screenshots, I am constantly reminded of Borean Tundra.

[kamuimac]

wasnt frostfire ridge part of previous preview video from likem onth or 2 months ago ? do they have only 2 zones playable- ready so far in alpha ?

[Deleted]

God, Frostfire Ridge look so boring.

[aoussar123]

I hope they make the Tauren running animation better before launch! But it's only alpha, so they probably will

Aso, as OneSent and Enan1981 said, Frostfire Ridge looks a lot like Borean Tundra. I also felt like Spires of Arak seemed really bland and uninspired and in no way living up to the awesome artwork that was made for it. While actual gameplay will never look as good as the artwork, I just felt like the color pallet was really shallow and bland, and that the spires looked more like hills and not the intimidating spires that they showed in the artwork.
A bit disappointing so far, but still a long way to go, so they'll probably adress a lot Hopefully!

[Kryos]

That is the PAX Alpha and I was watching this Alpha Stream during PAX. The player had access to the server at home and managed to play for many hours until his character was deleted.
This is NOT the current build! It's from early April.

[Mandibleclaw]

time travel stories sucks anyway. Especially the ones like wow is using, that changes nothing in the present.

[Kryos]

- double post -

[Deleted]

That is the PAX Alpha and I was watching this Alpha Stream during PAX. The player had access to the server at home and managed to play for many hours until his character was deleted.
So this is NOT the current build!

Okay this explains. When he did /dump getbuild or whatever, it said April as the release(?) date for said build.

[huth]

Oh, great, more outdated tweets. Some of those changes have even been reverted already.

[Skutch]

Feels like Borean Tundra 2.0 horde base...

still killing boars!

world of boarcraft!