Warlords Gold CMs Complete, SoO Stats, Warlords Launch Update, Blue Posts, DLC #465

[chaud]

Clarifications from Twitter, The Waypoint

Goblins vs Gnome Card Reveal: Foe Reaper 4000

Valla Hero Spotlight & Guide, Into the Nexus #28

Warlords of Draenor - All Gold Challenge Modes Complete
A group has already completed all of the gold challenge modes in Warlords of Draenor, rewarding them with challenge mode weapons and a nice yeti mount. Congratulations to them! You can see rankings on WoWProgress, but they combine both Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor times.

Armory Stats - Siege of Orgrimmar Progression
Before we get too far into Warlords of Draenor, there are a few outstanding requests for some final armory stats. This sample was updated right up until Patch 6.0.2 went live and looks at accounts active from September 1st onwards, which was 2.3 million accounts and 6.8 million characters. We looked at more detailed stats back in May 2014.

If there are any other final requests that use pre-6.0.2 Mists of Pandaria data please let us know in the comments, as the data will be wiped when new data collection begins in December.

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Warlords Launch Update

Since the launch of Warlords of Draenor we’ve seen a large amount of positive reaction to the new content available in the expansion. Players have been enjoying building and managing their own Garrisons and exploring the new world. With many of the new changes that have been implemented over the past couple of days, we’ve seen a marked improvement in realm performance and stability. Thank you again to everyone for your patience while we have worked around the clock to address these issues.

As we previously posted the realms in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania had rolling restarts to pick up hotfixes to address some gameplay issues. During this time we also further extended the raised maximum realm population in these regions. While the increase in realm population has allowed more players access to the game, we continue to also see realm queues on heavily populated realms.

To address the queues for these realms we are currently working on expanding the instancing tech we deployed earlier which allowed for additional copies of Draenor. We are currently testing these improvements with the goal of deploying this tech more widely. To ensure the best possible in-game experience for players this implementation will require additional oversight and testing. We will be carefully scrutinizing and adjusting these modifications throughout the day to ensure that we don’t introduce additional stability and performance issues.

Hourly updates will resume when we have more information on the progress of these changes to share with you. If you use Twitter, we recommend following @BlizzardCS and @Warcraft for updates as well.

Blue Posts

Challenge Mode Daily Quest and Seals of Fate
There is no garrison prerequisite. There was a logic error with the Challenge mode quests that could cause the daily randomizer to select an invalid value (and thus leave no quest available for the day), and we have a hotfix in flight to address that issue.

Also, since I've seen this come up a few times, the currency turn-in quests for the Tempered Seals of Fate that are used for Draenor bonus rolls are not available until the first raid zone, Highmaul, unlocks during the week of December 2. Take your time and enjoy Draenor; no need to worry about having to stockpile bonus rolls ahead of time. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Queues and Character Transfers
Just to answer some of the people who are unhappy with the queues, I don't have any specific answers I can give on Free Character Moves as of yet. I'll repeat what I said in the US forums that we are working to make sure realms are stable and performing well before we do further evaluations on what FCMs would look like should we do them. i.e. Which realms would need them and where would the moves be too, etc. I don't want to promise anything at this time, but we're not unaware of the concerns and frustrations people are experiencing with queues.

We've seen an increase in performance overall and have many more people playing and able to play than the past couple of days. We realize there are still queues to contend with, but we haven't walked away or called things "done" as of yet.

Neth, you guys really are not doing much to alleviate any issues. It would be nice if at least one of you would come out and admit your too cheap to pay for the proper hardware to handle the work load and feel like it wont be needed in the long run. Our short term discomfort (until subscriptions fall off after launch) is an acceptable trade off for blizz. Seriously, someone from blizz just come out and admit you guys messed up and this issues will subside once the player base decreases. I bet you would have a lot less upset players if you just told the truth. Being lied to and screwed over is worse than just being screwed over.
There are no lies being perpetrated in regard to the efforts being made on our end to alleviate issues. I know people like to think this is a truth and it seems really odd to cling to that. There is a very high demand by people to play the game. We are making efforts to support that demand in a variety of ways and we've been making great progress. We're still very early in the day today, so we will continue to be watching the effect of these changes once we get into the more populous times for the realms. Seriously. The efforts or the teams on this end are constant and ongoing at all levels. They are incredibly dedicated to doing what they can to get everyone into the game and playing the great content we have waiting for them.

I'm sorry you are frustrated. I want nothing more than for you to not be frustrated. Hopefully today will go better for you and many others. High population realms may be problematic when it comes to queue times, but we are making efforts to get more people in than hanging in the queues. Our efforts aren't stopping any time soon. No one is sitting on their laurels (I'm not sure why you'd want to really.) People will accuse us of many many things I'm sure. Conspiracies arise that just aren't true and there isn't much we can do to counter them than to keep working toward improving the experiences of the community that is here to play. We are very seriously continuing to monitor all of the changes we've made and their impact. Things have improved a great deal and we will continue to make improvements where we can. That's all I can really say. Some will believe and others won't. That isn't going to make us throw up our hands and give up. We wouldn't do that. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Server Stability
And as no one knows, CRZ saved the launch. (SeTec9)

We just added new hardware with this maintenance in attempts of coping with demand. Realms are looking pretty stable. (Bashiok)
Stable, yes. Sufficient, no. It's a simple matter of Blizzard blindly putting it's pocketbook ahead of its customers. Money > Rep
There is no problem I've had in the last 72 hours I could fix with money. If there was I'd do it. Actually not true: there was one, and we had more blades next restart -- problem not as simple (kurtismcc)
One cant fix problemshappening now with money, but better preparations could have been made. 2 hour queue time still.
Some servers are very high pop. We know this is a problem, but problem can't be solved with more hardware. We are still working on other solutions. (kurtismcc)
The calibre of those solving problems now doesn't absolve Blizzard's lack of preparation.
You choose your perspective on such matters. Mistakes were made, but there's no grand money conspiracy. (kurtismcc)
Blizzard had a good idea on the amount of people returning from expansion sales
Sales does not equal engagement, and engagement drives concurrency. We have a very engaging expansion, and I'm happy to have worked on it.
but your network should be able to handle enough users to equal your subscriber # and then some for growth
load isn't linear - clumps are the issue like the forum post says - it's an n-squared problem (kurtismcc)
Since it was known that high pop realms would be a problem; there should have been free migrations prior to launch.
even if we'd predicted it, wouldn't have helped; most people wouldn't have seen the need to move prior to launch (kurtismcc)

Classes
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
As much as I hate to report it, you can mount up while moving with Ice Floes. I assume that's not intended.
We're going to allow it for now. If it becomes a problem, we'll change it back. (Celestalon)

Art
Not even a single mention of Blood Elf models through the whole Blizzcon? If you're not doing them, tell us please.
We're doing them. Nothing else to announce until we have previews to show. (WatcherDev)

Character / Items
Who should I tweet about profession-type stuff? Looking at the cap on Apexis Crystals currently
What's the concern with the cap? That's more an item issue than professions per se. CC: @olandgren (WatcherDev)
If you could instead save up 37k or w/e then choose a slot to fill, I might actually do it
Very reasonable point - we'll discuss. We usually have at least some slush room on currency caps. (WatcherDev)

Where is our Champions Treadblade? My living mounts legs hurt.
Paulie in Old Town, Stormwind Cost: 100 000 Gold (TerranGregory)

PvP
Are there any plans to make 5v5 skirmishes?
No. Skirmishes is meant to be an introduction to the arena experience. Considered only doing 2v2 but know people would want 3s. (holinka)

combat log event "encounter_start" happens in pve any chance of having this in pvp, to enable accurate arena/bg combat logging?
yes we have it on our todo list (holinka)

Does MMR get Zero'ed at the beginning of each season along with the Character rating?
Your MMR gets reset when you gain a level but not between seasons. (holinka)
is there a design reason for this? Starting season on 1500 MMR win 100 lose 30 would you have the same final CR as 2k MMR start?
We don't think resetting MMR each season is good for the game. High rated will stomp over low rated. No value in that. (holinka)

Hey Holinka, will PvP Items have sockets? And what about tertiar stats?
Not at launch. Perhaps down the road. (holinka)
Ah thank you^^. I don't know what that means"down the road". Do you mean at the start of WoD Season 1 on 2nd of december?
It means, we haven't decided if or when. (holinka)

Ever thought of a battleground dota/smite style, 5vs5 3way?
Yes but it's a very odd fit for WoW and there are a lot of other games (including Heroes) doing it. Doesn't feel natural. (holinka)

Lore
Unfortunately Jaina is too far gone. Corrupted just like everyone else in the alliance.
Not at all, man. Jaina doesn't trust the Horde to self-govern... Can you blame her? (DaveKosak)

In WoD timeline: Gul'dan the only one with fel energy/green skin? Possible exposure changes rest? Or staying brown?
Gul'dan won't stay down for long - he'll find other fools. I mean, followers. (DaveKosak)

I said that the Kirin Tor's ability to assert control over how the alliance uses magic has waned over time. (craig_amai)
That doesn't mean it's gone entirely. We haven't seen it come to a head in a while amidst other crises. (craig_amai)
Thank you for the clarity. Could you take more questions on this? Are you able to say more on the topic?
I keep up with lore, but my focus is more on gameplay and world. Mr. Copeland will typically be a bit stronger with the lore-fu. (craig_amai)

Any chance Blood Elf Paladins can get a red casting animation, or anything other than the yellow hands? Blood Knight love?
Part of your lore is giving up the blood aspect/draining the Naaru and embracing the light, no? (Muffinus)

DLC #465 - Right on Queue
DLC #465 has been released.

[Heywoods]

Those mounts are amazing...

[angelflavor]

I would like to see stats on how many players ended up getting all MoP challenge mode bronze, silvers and golds. Also wouldnt mind knowing how many people in mop got endless 30 waves in proving grounds for all roles

[Alvanea]

There won't be any gear for gold CMs in WoD?

[Deleted]

Err about the Champions Treadblade tweet, Paulie is still not in Old Town on live.

[azrielen]

And still no response to cross-realm zone issues making Ashran unavailable for many servers. I don't understand.

[Doomchicken]

Err about the Champions Treadblade tweet, Paulie is still not in Old Town on live.

I came to ask if they moved him perhaps? Because I definitely cannot find him.

[Zhaine]

There won't be any gear for gold CMs in WoD?

WoD CM's award Weapons http://www.wowhead.com/news=243214/w...newcm-off-hand

[Gnz]

no fix for Ashran?

[Playintrafic]

WoD CM's award Weapons http://www.wowhead.com/news=243214/w...newcm-off-hand

Yeah blizz was too lazy to do anything but garrisons this expac. The story is great tho.

[Nightscrawl]

I'm surprised the SoO Glory isn't higher. I would have thought that with achievements enabled in flex mode that it would have a higher completion rate.

[Etul]

I remember you guys posted stats for Proving Grounds a while back, but I would be curious to see the final results for MoP now that they're no longer available. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other people like me who only finished up their Proving Grounds achievements in the last few weeks before WoD... :P

[iMizix]

Cool story about the challenge modes but it doesnt mean shit because 90% of the population couldn't even attempt to try this content because of Blizz FAILING. This is dumb and Method has no bragging rights because they had to have paid Blizzard so they wouldn't of had to deal with ques....

Screw you Blizzard.

[Deleted]

5man Dungeons will be a Cataclysm fail!

Normal dungeons are not even close to the casual friendly level... Wipefest all the time, BRS last boss harder than HC raid bosses in MoP...

HC dungeons are harder than cata dungeons before nerf.
And an extra cripsy thing: Most of the players come with legendary back, but the proc on that hit out all the CC-ed mobs.... = wipefest everywhere
They need to remove HC-s from DF, pugs cannot handle those....

Amazing loot system: 12 normal dungeons = 1 loot. 7 hc run = 0 loot. 4k gold for repair... We want to get back the old loot system at least we could won enchants....

And so much trash almost everywhere, Deadmines happend again! People just leave the *Growingleaf* dungeon where is more trash than in all MoP dungeons.

[Bigvizz]

5man Dungeons will be a Cataclysm fail!

Normal dungeons are not even close to the casual friendly level... Wipefest all the time, BRS last boss harder than HC raid bosses in MoP...

HC dungeons are harder than cata dungeons before nerf.
And an extra cripsy thing: Most of the players come with legendary back, but the proc on that hit out all the CC-ed mobs.... = wipefest everywhere
They need to remove HC-s from DF, pugs cannot handle those....

Amazing loot system: 12 normal dungeons = 1 loot. 7 hc run = 0 loot. 4k gold for repair... We want to get back the old loot system at least we could won enchants....

And so much trash almost everywhere, Deadmines happend again! People just leave the *Growingleaf* dungeon where is more trash than in all MoP dungeons.

Whole lot of crying here.

[nekobaka]

The CM gun seems the coolest at least from the video provided. Too bad I dont have a hunter.

[Arborus]

5man Dungeons will be a Cataclysm fail!

Normal dungeons are not even close to the casual friendly level... Wipefest all the time, BRS last boss harder than HC raid bosses in MoP...

HC dungeons are harder than cata dungeons before nerf.
And an extra cripsy thing: Most of the players come with legendary back, but the proc on that hit out all the CC-ed mobs.... = wipefest everywhere
They need to remove HC-s from DF, pugs cannot handle those....

Amazing loot system: 12 normal dungeons = 1 loot. 7 hc run = 0 loot. 4k gold for repair... We want to get back the old loot system at least we could won enchants....

And so much trash almost everywhere, Deadmines happend again! People just leave the *Growingleaf* dungeon where is more trash than in all MoP dungeons.

The dungeons are a hell of a lot easier than the Cataclysm ones. As a healer, the big issues with pugs have been the first two bosses of Grimrail, fist boss of UBRS, last boss of Bloodmaul Slag Mines, and the third boss in Skyreach. Everything has a complete joke with premade groups.

Regarding loot, Personal loot is much better for gearing up than group loot. We're getting 2-3 pieces off some bosses and there's rarely a kill where no one gets anything.

I won't argue with Everbloom having a lot of trash, though.

[Deleted]

5man Dungeons will be a Cataclysm fail!

Normal dungeons are not even close to the casual friendly level... Wipefest all the time, BRS last boss harder than HC raid bosses in MoP...

HC dungeons are harder than cata dungeons before nerf.
And an extra cripsy thing: Most of the players come with legendary back, but the proc on that hit out all the CC-ed mobs.... = wipefest everywhere
They need to remove HC-s from DF, pugs cannot handle those....

Amazing loot system: 12 normal dungeons = 1 loot. 7 hc run = 0 loot. 4k gold for repair... We want to get back the old loot system at least we could won enchants....

And so much trash almost everywhere, Deadmines happend again! People just leave the *Growingleaf* dungeon where is more trash than in all MoP dungeons.

Normal dungeons are very casual friendly, CC is rarely needed.

Indeed Zeala is quite challenging but you can always see where the flames are going to be by spotting the drake before it ''lands''.

HC dungeons are waaay easier then Cata pre-nerf, I have pugged every Heroic and never had any problem in them where as in Cata I was having serious problems

[Toiran]

Challenge modes done already? Jesus...

Nice mounts however.

[Donald Hellscream]

Challenge modes done already? Jesus...

Nice mounts however.

It is Method so it is hardly surprising that they've been able to do it this fast.