Proto-Drakes, CL Battlegroups, Blue posts

[Boubouille]

Ironbound/Rusted Proto-Drake Achievement Rewards removed in Patch 3.2
As of patch 3.2, the Ironbound and Rusted Proto-Drake will no longer be a reward of the Glory of the Ulduar Raider achievements.
[blizzquote="Bornakk;http://blue.mmo-champion.com/20/17367881473-ironboundrusted-protodrake.html]Last I heard they would be removed when 3.2 comes out, if this changes we'll let you know. [/blizzquote"]

Europe - Cross-Language Battlegroups are here!
If you can't remember where your server is, check the Battlegroups page on the official site!

during the weekly maintenance.

Players from realms of different languages will only ever face each other as opponents in battle and will not be playing on the same faction in Battlegrounds, ensuring that those playing on your side will speak the same language as you.

Please note that not all Battlegroups will be joined into Cross-Language Battlegroups, and this feature will not be affecting the Russian language Battlegroups. Please see below for a full list.

Wondering what Cross-Language Battlegroups are? Check out the FAQ here:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=9446244539

Here you can find a comprehensive list of the Cross-language Battlegroups that can already benefit from this new feature and those who will:

Active Cross-Language Battlegroups
Nightfall, Crueldad
Realms from English Battlegroup Nightfall and Spanish Battlegroup Crueldad will be united as Cruelty / Crueldad. Please discuss this new Cross-Language Battlegroup here: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=9446264859

Némésis, Hinterhalt
Realms from French Battlegroup Némésis and German Battlegroup Hinterhalt will be united as Embuscade / Hinterhalt.

Up-coming Cross-Language Battlegroups
Bloodlust, Cataclysme
Realms from English Battlegroup Bloodlust and French Battlegroup Cataclysme will be united as Cataclysme / Cataclysm.

Cyclone, Todbringer
Realms from English Battlegroup Cyclone and German Battlegroup Todbringer will be united as Cyclone / Wirbelsturm.

Conviction, Raserei
Realms from English Battlegroup Conviction and German Battlegroup Raserei will be united as Frenzy / Raserei.

Rampage, Férocité
Realms from English Battlegroup Rampage and French Battlegroup Férocité will be united as Rampage / Saccage.

Reckoning, Verderbnis
Realms from English Battlegroup Reckoning and German Battlegroup Verderbnis will be united as Reckoning / Abrechnung.

Ruin, Glutsturm
Realms from English Battlegroup Ruin and German Battlegroup Glutsturm will be united as Glutsturm / Emberstorm.

Vengeance, Schattenbrand
Realms from French Battlegroup Vengeance and German Battlegroup Schattenbrand will be united as Vengeance / Rache.

Sturmangriff, Représailles
Realms from German Battlegroup Sturmangriff and French Battlegroup Représailles will be united as Sturmangriff / Charge.

Battlegroups that will not be merged
English – Blackout, Misery and Vindication
German - Blutdurst
Russian - Шквал (Flurry) and Вихрь (Whirlwind)

Warcraft/Mtn Dew Prize Giveaway Begins Today
Reminder: This is an US ONLY contest. You do not have to gain tokens to get the Battle-Bot Mini Pet, the pet will be free to users who register with the propotion and have a Blizzard account. (Source)

This summer, we’re teaming up with Mtn Dew to offer World of Warcraft-themed Game Fuel in stores across the US. To celebrate, the Game Fuel website is giving away a prize every 15 minutes, beginning today and running until August 20. The prizes include Alienware computers, Razer peripherals, and more. For a chance to win, just visit the site, earn tokens, and then enter them in the sweepstakes of your choice. A 14-day free trial of World of Warcraft is also available through the site -- perfect for anyone in your life who hasn’t gotten a taste of the game yet. Check out the FAQ, read the official rules, or head over to the Game Fuel website to register and start bidding on your favorite prizes. And keep an eye out for bottles of World of Warcraft Mtn Dew Game Fuel to show up in stores near you beginning next week.

Getting Started: http://www.mountaindewgamefuel.com/#/home

Official Rules: http://www.mountaindewgamefuel.com/rules.php

FAQ: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/mountain-dew.html

Blue posts

Gaining XP in battlegrounds
It's something we're very interested in doing. I'm confident you'll find out more soon. (Source)

Mount Skills
We're looking at the whole mount and skill system currently. We may make some changes in the near future, but I doubt that making mount skills account wide will be one of them. Still, we agree that some changes may need to be made. We will have more information on this in the future. (Source)

Badge System
We have some new things in store for the badge system to help with the current end game progression curve that exists (as you noted: Heroics > Naxx > Ulduar > 3.2 > Icecrown ). We're looking to put together this information for you and will provide it as soon as it's ready to go. (Source)

New PvE Gear in the Coliseum
In patch 3.2 the coliseum will hold new 5, 10, and 25 player challenges, so gear has to come with that especially since Arena Season 7 will start and we can't introduce new PvP gear without PvE gear. (Source)

Arena representation and game balance
There is a correlation between representation and balance, but it's not 1.0. Certain classes are more popular than others because players like the idea of that class or the play style. Certain classes are in low representation because they are countered by others who are higher. Certain classes maintain a high representation just because they counter other classes that are high.

It also matters how you measure representation. Are you comparing Arena representation to representation of the class at level 80 overall? Are you looking at all brackets or just 2s? Are you looking at all Arena teams, just the high ranking ones, or just the top 100? Or top 10? Those all give you different answers.

Some classes require more player skill than others. What you see in a situation like this is that among lower ratings, the class isn't effective because some of those players lack the requisite skill. Then you see at very high ratings, the class comes into play again because in the hands of an expert it's deadly. Does this mean the class is unbalanced because only experts can make it work or balanced because at the highest echelons where skill matters the most, it is in equal representation?

As the OP points out, being able to hard counter someone in very strict rock-paper-scissors style may be balanced but it's not fun. We don't actually go out of our way to make sure X is a class that beats Y. Certain classes will have advantages over the others just because of the way the class mechanics work out. We're okay with that to a point because it keeps things interesting, but we don't want you to feel you've lost when the doors open and you see who is on the other side. (Source)

Giving a Mortal Strike debuff to casters
It's an interesting question that comes up a lot. Would caster comps be more viable if they just brought MS? Would things feel more even if MS was a 20% debuff instead of 50%?

One of the things we've noticed from feedback is that players who feel like they just can't stop healers often lack MS on their team. On the other hand, teams that feel like they get clobbered be melee nearly always have the MS debuff on them.

We experimented with giving the debuff to shamans early on Lich King, but ended up backing off of that because it just felt like we were homogenizing classes too much. But you can make the argument that it's such a game changer that it's almost mandatory in Arena. (Source)

Death Knight (3.1 Skills List / 3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Druid (3.1 Skills List / 3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Cat form models next week
Trust me. I'm confident you'll be pleasantly surprised with the tauren cat update. Stay tuned! It's coming next week. (Source)

Hunter (3.1 Skills List / 3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Hunters in Arena
We want hunter representation in Arena to be higher than it currently is. (Source)

Warlock (3.1 Skills List / 3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Green fire effects?
I can't say, "yes green fire is coming" and I can't say "No, never." The most I can say is that we're aware of the request and it's always a possibility for the future. Anything more than that, we couldn't say. (Source)

Warrior (3.1 Skills List / 3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.)
Bugs with rage generation? (Source)
We investigated this issue and found it was not true – the rage generation formula has not changed anytime recently. So we looked into it further to figure out why this was being brought up and here are some of the problems we came across:

• In the formulas people are using, there is a constant value which is labeled as ‘c’. At some point in the past, someone calculated a formula for determining c based on their level and that formula is not correct past level 70 as this value needs retuning from time to time like when a new expansion comes out. The value listed for c is 320.6 when it is actually 453.3.
  
• We modified the system for displaying power bars in Wrath of the Lich King to have the client display its best guess of how much power they have, which is very deterministic for mana or energy, but not so much for rage. This most likely results in the displayed rage being off slightly at times, making the data collection more difficult. The client displays its best guess and the server validates the power usage against the value it knows they actually have - the two can be out of synch occasionally which throws the data off.
  
• Some of the testing was done with ungeared characters hitting for very small amounts. There is a component to the calculation we haven’t previously mentioned that will make the rage gained from those attacks sometimes not match the formula. Basically, the normal formula is Rage = (7.5d/c+f*s)/2. However, that result can never be larger than (7.5d/c)*2. This essentially means that very low damage attacks have a limit on how much they can be averaged up by the f*s component of the equation.

To try and clarify things for the number crunchers, conceptually, here is the formula for rage generation:

• 1) Determine rage based on damage done divided by a level constant (7.5*d/c)
• 2) Determine how much rage would be 3.5 rage per second when factoring in the hit made and the weapon’s speed (f*s)
• 3) Average the two of them together (the divided by 2 part).

[Couga]

Blue posts

New PvE Gear in the Coliseum
In patch 3.2 the coliseum will hold new 5, 10, and 25 player challenges, so gear has to come with that especially since Arena Season 7 will start and we can't introduce new PvP gear without PvE gear. (Source)

Sounds like they're throwing in another quick raidinstance just so Arena can continue. ;D

[Verth]

I didn't get the warlock post. Are they talking about chaos bolt again?
It's starting to bore me.

[Oakenlove]

Giving a MS type debuff to casters would open up a whole can of worms that would enrage the masses.

[Bainz]

Gaining XP in battlegrounds
It's something we're very interested in doing. I'm confident you'll find out more soon.

That will make a few people a bit angry if it goes through.
They'll probably come up with something where players have the choice to gain XP or to not gain any...

[Vorgulremik]

Taking out the new drakes so soon?

well I guess there is no ETA on this patch yet but I expected them to be left in for a little more than a couple of months

[nitalon]

It also matters how you measure representation. Are you comparing Arena representation to representation of the class at level 80 overall? Are you looking at all brackets or just 2s?

You can't really say that... 2s are something anyone can organize to play at any time.. It takes just you and your partner, unlike 5v5 where it takes you and 4 more people who would have to be free at the same time every day to play daily... Not to mention it needs to be some sort of a balanced 5 men group...

This is why EVERY (almost every) character who does arenas has a 2v2, but not everyone have a 3v3 and even less a 5v5...
To force a class to play a 5v5 to say it is just as good as other classes in arenas, and for it to be represented in nearly same numbers as other classes, is a little unfair...

[Nathanyel]

If they make XP in battlegrounds unavoidable I'm gonna be pissed and so are a lot of other people who play at the *9 level of their bracket.

Boohoo, my unintended near-exploit niche of the game is gonna be addressed soon.
A good signature I once saw:
"Twinks are people staying back a grade to be better bullies in the playground."

[Daelos]

Those merges are weird, still leaves Vindication by itself, I guess I'm not gonna play 5v5 anytime soon ._.

[behnam1991]

Can we have 25manv25man Arena, Lol, this would be insane

[Shámbulancee]

Can we have 25manv25man Arena, Lol, this would be insane

25 mages all mirror image = 100
25 mages water elemental = 25 eles's

so 125 heads running about , what if you got a mirror :O?

DALARAN LAGG

[Ixchel]

25 mages all mirror image = 100
25 mages water elemental = 25 eles's

so 125 heads running about , what if you got a mirror :O?

DALARAN LAGG

ROFLMAO

Can't wait for new Tauren Cat's Form Yay!

[killaklown]

In order to get the battle bot, do they require your email to be the same as your battle.net/blizzard email?

[Cyggs]

I didn't get the warlock post. Are they talking about chaos bolt again?

I would interpret it like they think about to change all the colour from warlock's fire-spells (Shadowflame, Incinerate, Immolate, Conflagrate...) to a green one. Like the Chaos Bolt-green or so.
As a contrast to the 'normal' fire from the mages and to underline the demonic power in them.
Sounds cool to me.

[Critterbot]

Looking forward to see teh cat skins :3

[psicorp]

why is there a place for a change to DKs but nothing listed? was that just a bug or was there a change that didnt get copied in

[Elementium]

Has anyone got that mountain dew pet yet? >.<

[Biernot]

Boohoo, my unintended near-exploit niche of the game is gonna be addressed soon.
A good signature I once saw:
"Twinks are people staying back a grade to be better bullies in the playground."

QFT

Mount Skills
Some reasonable solution would be to make riding skill like 50% cheaper for alts (on the same server). Totally free would be too much.

Coliseum
I am not really sure of my opinion towards that new party/raid instance. If it's just some "small" Arena where you fight the bosses one after another, it wouldn't justify a whole new tier of gear in the term of an epic challenge.
What i would really like, would be something like a huuuge Coliseum, where you not only fight in the arena but have to fight your way through the "backstage" areas and such - like Thorim but a lot bigger.

Mortal Strike
I don't really do PvP, but reducing Mortal Strike (and similar effects) from 50% to 20% would require a lot of changing in the other parts of the affected classes. A warrior with only 20% MS wouldn't be viable anymore without otherwise compensation. But taking it slowly and reducing it only to like 40%, and look how it plays out, could work. Or the other way round, adding small MS effects to abilities (e.g. Mangle debuff or Vampiric Touch -20% healing. These are just examples... where and how an MS could be added remains subject of further research)

Green Fire for Warlocks
I like that idea! It might take some time to get used to it, but i would encourage that change.

Rage Formula
If there is a bug or not, the fact that blizzard starts to come out with the exact formulas for game mechanics (like they did with armor penetration) is very welcome. A lot of formulas are already known through testing, but official proof is always a good idea.

[JUNOX1]

MS to casters do sound kinda silly.(stabs warrior with hes wand and the infection reduces 50% healing)

but yea its true some classes cant be killed without having healing reduction on them. (disc,resto druid) i currently have two 2v2 teams 1 is lock/mage the other rogue/DK. as a mage its pretty hard to burst down a disc priest with pain supress and penance since my lock partner is 90% of the time first 1 to get targeted.

sadly my rogue is in blues and junk and he does way better. since druids cant run do to the constant cripling and wound and disc penance becomes a lil easyer 2 kick with mindnumbing.

teams that feel like they get clobbered be melee nearly always have the MS debuff on them.
like they sayd rock paper scissors. that might cause the only 1s that can stop you are the classes with ms since you probably dont notice the ones your rollover.

Instead of MS give all casters Manaburn i wanna give them priests some payback

[MrExcelion]

[blizzquote author=Zarhym]Gaining XP in battlegrounds
We don't plan to force experience gains on players. More on this later... (Source)