Patch 6.2 - Apexis Crystal Vendors, Upcoming Raid Testing, Blue Posts, Final Boss #83

[chaud]

Tuesday Maintenance Reminder, Expected Season 3 Duration, Zero Empathy vs GR 72

New Main Button Being Added to Hearthstone

Rotation for June 9th 2015, Upcoming Shop Sales, Heroes Academy Episode 3

Patch 6.2 - Apexis Crystal Vendors
We already talked about how the old Apexis Crystal gear will be sold for gold in Patch 6.2, so today we are looking at the new Apexis Crystal vendors. The items that don't increase player power require reputation with the Order of the Awakened faction added in Patch 6.2.

Baleful armor items cost 5,000 Apexis Crystal and the Baleful weapons cost 10,000 Apexis Crystal. These same items can be looted from creatures and objects in Tanaan Jungle and some are rewarded from quests. Similar items for several slots are also rewarded by some of the Naval Missions.

These items can then be upgraded to item level 695 with the Empowered Apexis Fragment, which costs 20,000 Apexis Crystal. This is higher than Raid Finder gear, which is 675 - 685 and higher than some Normal gear, which is 690 - 705. Players will receive one for free, along with a Baleful Tunic for completing part of the Garrison Campaign added in Patch 6.2.

Be sure to cap your Apexis Crystals before Patch 6.2 goes live! This should allow you to have three 695 items on the first day, as the item level 650 Baleful gear is rewarded frequently from drops in Tanaan Jungle. Also keep in mind that the Baleful items can randomly be upgraded to item level 675 upon creation!

Level	Type	Name	Cost	Source
1	Companion Pets	Blazing Firehawk	2000 ×	Vendor
1	Back	Rukhmar's Sacred Memory	50000 ×	Vendor
100	Blue Gem	Reins of the Corrupted Dreadwing	150000 ×	Vendor
1	Blacksmithing Plans	Contract: Solar Priest Vayx	1000 ×	Vendor
650	None	Baleful Bracers	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Tunic	5000 ×	Looted, Quest, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Treads	5000 ×	Looted, Quest, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Gauntlets	5000 ×	Looted, Quest, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Hood	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Leggings	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Spaulders	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Girdle	5000 ×	Looted, Quest, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Ring	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Choker	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Cloak	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Trinket	5000 ×	Looted, Vendor
650	None	Baleful Armament	10000 ×	Looted, Vendor
685	None	Empowered Apexis Fragment	20000 ×	Quest, Vendor

Raid Testing Schedule - June 10

We are aiming to get a new build onto the PTR on Tuesday, and will be using Wednesday, June 10, to revisit a couple of Mythic encounters in the new build. As is always the case with PTR raid testing, it is quite possible that there will be technical or gameplay issues that disrupt our plans. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below on all PTR servers.

Wednesday, June 10

• Kormrok - Mythic Hellfire Citadel - 13:30 PDT (16:30 EDT, 22:30 CEST)
• Tyrant Velhari - Mythic Hellfire Citadel - 15:00 PDT (18:00 EDT, 24:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Blue Posts

Content
We're never short on passion, or ideas, or a desire to create more. It really just always comes down to the hours in a day, and how we can best use those hours to achieve the design and content goals we've laid out--a lot of the time working on things so far out that they won't even see a PTR for 6 months to a year. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Classes
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
The 15% elemental damage taken bonus from Hunter T18 Surv 2p: is that from all sources or just the hunter?
Just the hunter. (WarcraftDevs)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Can you please explain the Deadly Throw nerf? What's the point of the talent? The design since inception was ranged interrupt
We felt the ranged interrupt, coupled with the Rogue’s already strong kit of control, was too disruptive. (WarcraftDevs)

Character / Items
are there any plans to turn Shard of Archstone into a toy?
Yes! Shard of Archstone will be a toy in a future patch. (WarcraftDevs)

You mentioned some time ago you are going to bring back the WotLK arena weapons (season 5-7). Is this still planned?
It isn't currently planned for 6.2. (WarcraftDevs)

if my 91 rogue equips Warglaives in Timewalker dungeon will they be just as good at 70 as they used to be? (Roughly ofc)
You can definitely break out your old legendaries for a power boost when Timewalking. (WarcraftDevs)

Can the 650 items from tanaan jungle, intended as the catch up mechanic, roll warforged, sockets, and/or tertiary stats?
No, but they can randomly have their quality upgraded when created. (WarcraftDevs)
Follow-up for clarity: Quality upgrades are mainly used for outdoor rewards; Warforged/Socket/Tertiary for instance loot. (WarcraftDevs)

PvE
Please consider resetting the leader boards for Challenge Modes. Beating Everbloom top times is impossible after your fix.
We’d probably clear the clearly unattainable times rather than a full board reset, but yes. (WarcraftDevs)

PvP
So Ashran will be just like a random BG? Hope you get good pugs?
Allowing players to form raids/enter Ashran negatively affected instance pop, queue times & faction balance region-wide. (WarcraftDevs)

Lore
Lore Questions: Are the Scryers autonomous, or do they answer to Lor'themar now? Also, can we get to Outland still in lore? TY
Both the Aldor & the Scryers still answer to the Naaru first & foremost. (1/2) (WarcraftDevs)
Outland is still accessible via mage portals in the same way that you can port there yourself. (2/2) (WarcraftDevs)

Paul Sams - CEO at Ready At Dawn Studios
It seems Paul Sams left Blizzard back in April and now has now taken on a new challenge as CEO of Ready At Dawn Studios. He shared lessons he learned at Blizzard in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz and even stopped by the forum to provide context on why he left Blizzard.

Q: Blizzard's reputation is second to none in this industry - Paul, what kinds of lessons did you learn there that will help Ready at Dawn reach the next level?
Paul Sams: First and foremost, I learned that you must put game quality and player experience first in everything that you do. Gamers are not driven to buy games because they have a clever business model, they buy games that are fun and immersive that deliver on what was promised. I also learned that being a trend chaser or first mover is not a key to victory. Our team here at Ready At Dawn needs to make games that they love and that they want to play so that we can get the very best and most creative work out of our developers. Force feeding a development team to chase a business model or game type trend when the team doesn't love it is a likely losing proposition. A happy and motivated team that is making a game that they absolutely love with a leadership team that doesn't force them to ship their game before it is ready is part of that formula for success.

I am posting to clarify that I have immense loyalty to Blizzard, and it pains me to see my name associated with posts criticizing the company. I would never leave Blizzard unless I fully was confident the company was healthy and well poised for continued success. I have had the privilege of working at Blizzard for nearly 20 years, and Blizzard has given me everything I have in life and taught me everything I know about the video game industry. I even met my wife at Blizzard. Last year, we made the family decision to return to my wife's home state of Texas. It's as simple as that. I want to watch my boys play football, be near my daughter who attends University of Texas and enjoy the great city of Austin. Not only that, I want to be able to support the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy at UT more as well. My opportunity to work with my friends at Ready at Dawn is fortuitous and allows me to continue my work in the industry I love while living in the place I love with the people I love. Not many people get an opportunity to enjoy that trifecta in life. I feel blessed and am fully aware that Blizzard paved this road. The fact that I am proud and excited to now work at Ready at Dawn in no way diminishes my love and respect for my friends and colleagues at Blizzard.

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Just so you know, I can publicly tell you that I 100% support the direction of the company. Again, I left because our entire family wanted to live in my wife's home state of Texas. We have had a home in Austin since 2005 and we spent a ton of time here. We have been planning to move to Austin permanently for years. Our boys wanted to play Texas "Friday Night Lights" football. If you know my family, we are football fanatics and the idea of this pushed our entire family's "geek meter" to 11. There is truly nothing more to the story than what I said in my first post. Good night guys. I hope to see you on Battle.net.

Final Boss #83 - Healing Priests of Draenor
Final Boss covered Holy and Discipline priests this week.

[Deleted]

If only they made Apexis Crystal or the stuff you buy, BoA

[Darksoldierr]

Huge proprs for Paul, never would have imagined that a Blizzard guy comments gossips and other stuff on this forum

[Granyala]

First and foremost, I learned that you must put game quality and player experience first in everything that you do. Gamers are not driven to buy games because they have a clever business model, they buy games that are fun and immersive that deliver on what was promised.

So uuh.. the opposite of what they did with WoD is key to success. Got it. :<

[OldManWolfy]

Sometimes I think Blizzard would do well to expand outside Cali and have studios across the country. :P

[Christhammer]

Still nothing on when 6.2 is out and the new PvP season. It's been a VERY long season! Come on!!

[pfbe]

You have the apexis mount marked as "blue gem".

[ihyln]

First and foremost, I learned that you must put game quality and player experience first in everything that you do. Gamers are not driven to buy games because they have a clever business model, they buy games that are fun and immersive that deliver on what was promised.

So uuh.. the opposite of what they did with WoD is key to success. Got it. :<

WoD is a pretty bad joke and everyone knows by now. You just can't expect mouthpieces to say "yea we dun goofed with WoD, we're sorry it sucks"

[Grimalkin of Old]

You just can't expect mouthpieces to say "yea we dun goofed with WoD, we're sorry it sucks"

You can't, but it's the right thing to do if they want the respect of the players back.

[Rezhka]

So...they removed Point system (JP VP anyone?) and replace it with Apexis with more ridiculous amount cost per item trade. Awesome...

[Zyranthian]

Give it a few years and I'm sure people will be remembering WoD fondly while hating on whatever expansion is current at the time. And so the wheel continues to turn.

[Buu]

Content
We're never short on passion, or ideas, or a desire to create more. It really just always comes down to the hours in a day, and how we can best use those hours to achieve the design and content goals we've laid out--a lot of the time working on things so far out that they won't even see a PTR for 6 months to a year. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

MMMkay... I'll wait unsubbed and without the game and launcher installed for those 6 months. As more people start to be adept of this practice, you can start to learn to feed from sunlight, during such hiatus.

[artaxix]

Give it a few years and I'm sure people will be remembering WoD fondly while hating on whatever expansion is current at the time. And so the wheel continues to turn.

Yeah, I don't see that happening, for the same reasons that Cata is still viewed as garbage...

Because it was garbage.

[Delaios]

So...they removed Point system (JP VP anyone?) and replace it with Apexis with more ridiculous amount cost per item trade. Awesome...

Nothing wrong with those prices to be honest, considering the strength of the gear and how you can pre-farm tokens until you get a piece with desired stats. The new dailies award 2000 Apexis, there are missions that award Apexis (with a new follower to boost it), mage tower gives a steady income and mobs in Tanaan drop them much more frequently than previous level cap mobs.

[Buu]

You can't, but it's the right thing to do if they want the respect of the players back.

Au contraire. They CAN. There is a bunch of developers that screwed bad with Cataclysm endgame, and thought that doing the same crap, but with more strength, they would have different results.
All they need is to name names. Say who was responsible for the WotLK 12M peak, who was responsible for the constant bleed of Cata, who was responsible for advancing the game (mainly it's systems, things that players don't notice very clearly, but they were GREAT nonetheless) at MoP, and who was responsible for the laziness of WoD (constant "I quit"s because the programming was "so time-consuming").
Split the rotten band from the quality developers. And let the first be ashamed, because the latter will then have the recognition and power to decide they deserve.

- - - Updated - - -

Give it a few years and I'm sure people will be remembering WoD fondly while hating on whatever expansion is current at the time. And so the wheel continues to turn.

MoP ended, and people still talk ill of Cataclysm. Even the more shy ones, started to complain when they noticed how the devs responsible for that disaster are back commanding WoD development.
Cataclysm wasn't a total loss because the old world revamp. WoD have ONLY the new player models to be proud of, and that's way too little, compared to Cata.

[Perfectionlol]

Give it a few years and I'm sure people will be remembering WoD fondly while hating on whatever expansion is current at the time. And so the wheel continues to turn.

Really? Because I remember MoP and Cata were pretty bad too. The early raid content in Mop was cool, but then there were the mists of dailies and Siege of Orcs. for over a year. Or how bout that Amazing lore and villain that was Deathwing, then they ruined it by giving us that tentacle garbage.

Steady progression downward in creative content starting in BC.
BC was the end all be all of the best content in this game, immersive creative bosses, beautiful tier sets that everybody still loves transmogrifying, amazing art, dungeons, instances and gear progression. Wotlk was pretty good, but not as good as BC. People still enjoyed the lore and ICC was pretty cool, but many of us were not happy with the re-hash of Naxx and the mistake that was ToC. Ulduar and ICC were sick.

I have high hopes for 6.2's raid tier. The sets have already failed for the most part, some look pretty cool.. but then there are some like the Hunter set, where it's nothing but a rejected MoP leveling set with some sha poop. However, that's what Transmog is for I suppose.
It's the boss fights that need to change, cmon we've been fighting various orcs for the past 3 years. It's about damn time we start seeing some big ass dragons (not that fail deathwing fight), demons, titans, bugs, mechs, anything.

Unique fights like KT, KJ, Kaelthas, Illidan, Arthas, all of those fights were so epic.
What's SoO/WoD? Fight orc, get out of fire with minor differences.
And deathwing, oh my god the disappointment when I saw that. Why couldn't it be an actual dragon fight like Sapphiron/Sindragosa? Halion? Malygos? Sartharion?! Onyxia even! Nope. Too difficult for blizz. Let's critically wound him and crash him into the ground during a cinematic and then cheese the fight with tentacles.
Still makes me angry to this day, what a waste of an expansion. Deathwing had so much potential as an end boss, and such a massive buildup throughout the expansion.

[Korru]

This and Cata was terrible, MoP was average.

[Buu]

I honestly believe that story has a lot more to do with the popularity of expansions than anything else. the thing about Cataclysm and warlords of Draenor is that they both have weak disconnected storylines with lots of plotholes and things that generally make no sense. MoP might not have had the gameplay that people wanted, and it might have introduced a race that was controversial, but it had a far better story until the end, it felt like player actions mattered, and the art was beautiful and didn't make use of overused themes in wow.

No way. Cataclysm was about rediscovering the World, with the brief interruption of Deepholm. There was a good story there. The atrocious SYSTEMS that made the endgame gameplay a torture that few had conditions to endure was what screwed it. The expansion wasn't a total waste because the better devs intervened at lest 3 times with growing power, over the bad ones.
I honestly hope that Blizzard didn't gave up on WoW, now they have other games, and did bring back that people who will save the expansion, and that's why they postponed the Q&A. So they can announce the better part of the company is back on the leading.

[Jasper Kazai]

"Shard of Archstone will be a toy in a future patch."
So they know about it. Why the hell can't they include it in this patch? It can't be that hard. I know people bitch and want the world, but this really seems like the easiest thing that they could include last minute. I don't get why it seems to need months of pre-planning.

[Arvandor]

apexis is one of the reasons why wow sucks at the moment.

wayne25uk cool down! final boss is only a crap show with dump kiddys..