CRZ and RP Realms, Legion Comic #4, New Site Design, Hotfixes, Vengeance DH Preview

[chaud]

End of Era 6 Notification, Desolacer's Leveling Method for S7

Weekend Wacky Wild Decks

Auriel Reveal in Chinajoy, Mystic Kingdoms Arthas Available, Small Hotfix - July 21st

Cross-Realm Functionality on RP Realms

Patch 7.0 included some server-side changes to the way our cross-realm and sharding technologies work. While these changes were made to improve system and server performance, they inadvertently affected Role Playing realms and communities in a way we did not intend.

We recognize the issue this has caused for the role playing community, and have been hard at work on some improvements to our tech that will allow us to disable it entirely in certain areas on RP servers. In those designated areas, players on RP realms will not be automatically mixed with players from other realms, nor will they be split into multiple “shards”. In other words, if you’re on an RP server, you won’t have trouble finding other people from your realm in these areas, and shouldn’t see very many (if any) players from other realms.

Additionally, it’s worth clarifying that our previous rules which prevented RP realms from being automatically CRZ’ed with non-RP realms have not changed, even outside of these designated areas. However, please be aware that our party-based cross-realm tech is still in place, so if someone from another realm groups up with someone on your realm, you might see them.

We’re currently applying these changes to Stormwind and Orgrimmar, and North American realms should be starting to see their effects. Realms in other regions will pick the changes up with their next restarts. Once we’ve had some time to see how these changes are working out in action, we’ll begin applying them to other common social hubs (such as other capital cities, Elwynn Forest, etc.), with the goal to eventually roll this out to the vast majority of the game world. The only exceptions will be a few very specific locations where sharding is needed to prevent major performance issues, particularly with the upcoming expansion launch.

Again, our goal was never to disrupt the role playing community, and we apologize for any distress or confusion this has caused those players.

New Comic: World of Warcraft: Legion #4 - "Anduin: Son of the Wolf"
Blizzard has released the next Legion comic in the series!

"My son. A terrible darkness has returned to our world."

What is the price of peace? This is a question that Anduin Wrynn must answer as war against an ancient foe begins anew and hidden enemies threaten his very life.

In "Anduin: Son of the Wolf," a letter from Anduin’s father, King Varian, speaks of ill times ahead, prompting the young ruler to ponder leadership and responsibility. Anduin must face his fears and decide if he can defend Azeroth while still keeping true to his beliefs.
We invite you to read and download the free comic here. You can also experience the action and sound of this tale through the Madefire motion book, available on desktop, mobile, and Apple TV.

About the Comic
Written by Robert Brooks and illustrated by Nesskain, "Anduin: Son of the Wolf" is the fourth in a series of comics leading up to the Burning Legion's invasion of Azeroth.

Robert Brooks is a senior writer on Blizzard Entertainment's Creative Development team and has worked on various projects for Blizzard's game universes, including the World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor comic "Blackhand" and the Mists of Pandaria faction short story "The Untamed Valley."

Nesskain is a French comic artist residing near Paris. Mainly self-taught, he started his career in the comics field in his early twenties, working for publisher Delcourt on projects such as Le Cercle and R.U.S.T.

Coming Soon: "The Tomb of Sargeras"

We’re pleased to announce the upcoming audio drama “The Tomb of Sargeras”, written by Robert Brooks, and narrated by Steven Pacey.



Subscribe now in iTunes to get each episode as soon as they're released.

Patch 7.0.3 Hotfixes - July 22

Bug Fixes

Classes
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Death Strike is now calculated at 45 Runic Power for purposes of abilities that base their functionality off of Runic Power spent.

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Restoration Affinity now properly increases the healing done by Rejuvination.
• Prowl and Dash can now be activated while the Druid is in Cat Form or Bear Form.

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• The visual for Glyph of the Skullseye now properly disappears when the buff runs out.

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Mages are now able to purchase Mystical Tome: Arcane Linquist, Mystical Tome: Illusion and Familiar Stone from Endora Moorehead in Dalaran as intended.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Chi Orbit is now only visible to the casting Monk and hostile players.
• The Jade Serpent Statue now properly assists the Monk when casting the Ancient Mistweaver Arts variant of Soothing Mist.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Fixed a bug preventing Divine Steed from working at the proper level.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Casting Riptide directly after a Chain Heal will now award two stacks of Tidal Waves.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Drain Life and Drain Soul now consider Mechanicals to be valid targets.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Anger Management should reduce the correct amount of the remaining cooldown on Battle Cry, with the corresponding amount of Rage spent by Execute.
• Pants and weapons are no longer changing appearances after entering Defensive Stance.

Dungeons

• In Razorfen Downs, Death Speaker Blackthorn and Amnennar the Coldbringer no longer respawn following their deaths.
• In Raid Finder, entering the second wing of Heart of Fear should place players in the proper instance with appropriate enemies spawned.

Items

• Chef’s Hat again speeds up cooking.
• Invisible fist weapons are now eligible to be transmogrified.

Mobs

• Razor Net Trap in Tanaan Jungle is now doing its intended amount of damage.

Pet Battles

• Flawless Battle-Stone can be used on Enchanted Broom, as intended.
• The Hunter’s Call toy no longer summons any pets that can be battled.

PVP

• PvP templates now grant level 100 characters stats on par with item level 740 gear (up from 700 gear).
• “Slay Them All” now rewards gold and a Fel-Touched Crate of Battlefield Goods.
• “Ashran Dominance” now rewards gold, a Fel-touched Crate of Battlefield Goods, and a Mark of Honor.

Quests

• Fixed an issue that could cause Big Pete in Hemet's Happy Hunting Grounds to become stuck and uninteractible.
• Lord Maxwell Tyrosus should now remain visible, allowing players to turn in "Argent Call: The Noxious Glade.
• The Twilight Sermon events are now properly initiating, allowing for the completion of the quests "Might of the Stonemaul" and "Might of the Sentinels".
• Kadrak is now present and the quest “Warchief’s Command: Ashenvale!” can be turned in.
• Restored some daily quests that had gone missing from the Molten Front.

Zones

• Cold Weather Flying now costs 50 gold, and is automatically learned at level 80.

Patch 7.0.3 Hotfixes - July 21

Bug Fixes
Classes

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Feral Affinity should increase the damage of Rake and Rip, as intended.

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Pets in the Oxen and Scalehide families now all have a basic attack.

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• While the Flame Patch talent is active, it should tick during the casting and application of other spells.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• The talent Trail of Light should no longer incorrectly reduce the healing of Flash of Light.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)

• Chaos Bolt should no longer interfere with boss abilities when combined with the Reverse Entropy talent.
• Fixed a bug affecting the health of Warlock pets.

Dungeons

• Fixed an issue that could prevent players from receiving loot from Draenor Mythic dungeon bosses depending on their loot settings.

Items

• The monument awarded for the achievement "Chapter IV: Darkness Incarnate" is no longer missing.
• Crown of the Fire Festival should again appear as a valid transmogrification source if you’ve completed the quest “A Thief’s Reward”.

Quests

• The NPC Ultham Ironhorn is again available for Dwarf players attempting to complete "Learn To Ride".
• There are now Sunreaver Citizens available to complete the quest "It Starts in the Sewers"
• Players are now able to start and progress through the quest "Endgame".
• The quest “The Future of Rockpool” can again be completed.
• Mistcaller’s Charm, used to summon Mistcaller Yngvar for the quest "Mistcaller Yngvar", now functions properly.
• General Grimaxe should no longer despawn after he has dismounted during “Grimaxe’s Demise”.
• Players are now able to complete the quest “Unbroken Circle”.
• Halduron Brightwing should again allow players to turn in the quest "Journey to the Sunwell".

Zones

• Level 100 characters should be able to queue for Ashran via Group Finder.
• The NPCs who went missing from Hrothgar’s Landing have been returned.
• Players will now properly receive the Dungeon Preparation buff when entering a Timewalking dungeon.

New World of Warcraft Site Preview

As we prepare for a new chapter in Azeroth’s story, we thought it was an auspicious time debut an all-new World of Warcraft site. Consider it your future home for all things WoW, with an all-new home page, game section, new player and returning player guides, and much more.

As with any new undertaking, this site is a work in progress and we’ll be updating it regularly with a variety of features, including updated player profiles, PvP Ladder information, and more.

Once the new site goes live on July 26, you’ll also want to check out the updated forums, which can be accessed by clicking Forums at the top of the page. We’ve put a new coat of paint on things and tidied up a bit to give the forums a cleaner look. Don’t worry, though—all of your posts in the current forums will still be here for you when we transition over, so no packing for the move will be necessary.

Check out the images below to get an idea of how the site will look.

We look forward to getting settled into our new home with you.

Blue Tweets

Raids
What's the story with Nighthold? Tuned for and rewards same ilevel as Emerald Nightmare but releasing months after?
Tuned for Nightmare gear, will reward a tier up. Basically Highmaul->Foundry (after Foundry gear buffs) redux. (WatcherDev)

Items
Warglaive from pre-patch event is BoP, so appearance available to pre-purchase players only. Is that intended ?
Thanks everyone for drawing attention to this, will discuss. (Muffinus)

Questing
But if lvl 102 is a healer, can they heal lvl 108 properly? Rare for questing I know, but I'm curious.
yes healing gets scaled too (holinka)

Final Boss - Vengeance Demon Hunter Spec Preview
Demon Hunters aren't here just yet, but you can see the Vengeance spec preview while you are waiting.

[moveth]

New site looks pretty nice.

[LancerX7]

"and we apologize for any distress or confusion this has caused those players."

You mean, the furrys were actually facing distress and confusion over this?
Seeing someone that wasn't from their server had them in a manner of distress?

And they wonder why people get on those servers and give them hell. rofl

[Justpassing]

"and we apologize for any distress or confusion this has caused those players."

You mean, the furrys were actually facing distress and confusion over this?
Seeing someone that wasn't from their server had them in a manner of distress?

And they wonder why people get on those servers and give them hell. rofl

g8 1st post m8

[7empest]

Ok, so that comic, high king Wrynn. Massive time skip after Legion confirmed? Time travel confirmed? Pokemon Go hype over in two weeks confirmed? The EU collapsing confirmed?

Glad the Alliance won't be ruled by a pacifist twerp. World of Peacecraft no more.

[Deleted]

All right, Anduin!

Seems the Alliance will finally get a somewhat worthy leader!

[Deleted]

Now Anduin turned into a king I can fight for.

[Bethrezen]

Thank you Garrosh for shaping Anduin's ass up in time for the Burning Legion.

RIP Garrosh Hellscream, Best Warchief, Only Warchief of the Horde.

[lolwhatadumbthread]

that comic was super good, the music everything was perfect, anduin is actually pretty awesome too, he came along way from being a little bitch lol

[Saiona]

Thank you Garrosh for shaping Anduin's ass up in time for the Burning Legion.

RIP Garrosh Hellscream, Best Warchief, Only Warchief of the Horde.

In my head my orc warrior died inside the siege of Org. Rerolled alliance after trolljin became warchief

[Psygon]

"and we apologize for any distress or confusion this has caused those players."

You mean, the furrys were actually facing distress and confusion over this?
Seeing someone that wasn't from their server had them in a manner of distress?

And they wonder why people get on those servers and give them hell. rofl

Outed yourself Mr. Troll! You're jealous of the fun they are having?

[Smank]

Glad they're fixing this. Haven't been able to properly RP since the prepatch

[Argarock]

holy shit the comic!
Best one so far, oh my god anduin!

hold on, The war, it goes on until anduin is older than his father is now!?

[TheRevenantHero]

"and we apologize for any distress or confusion this has caused those players."

You mean, the furrys were actually facing distress and confusion over this?
Seeing someone that wasn't from their server had them in a manner of distress?

And they wonder why people get on those servers and give them hell. rofl

It's more that people on Wyrmrest Accord had to deal with the shit tier roleplayers from Moon Guard being on their server. I'm glad this is getting changed though. Was sick of that garbage being on WrA because of CRZ.

[Mifuyne]

Looks like we'll be taking the fight to Argus using the Exodar.

[Dawnshadow]

The issue with RP realms wasn't just CRZ-- we've had that for years and it was tolerable, although not the ideal solution (there were major issues with players from RP-in-name-only realms griefing world events, which has had a chilling effect on world RP.) It was sharding linked to CRZ that was the problem. You'd have people you were actively playing with just vanish on you. You'd go to meet with someone in your guild and, even though you were both in the same place, you wouldn't be able to see them.

And the shards were too sparsely populated. Normally popular areas were visibly seemingly abandoned-- you could count the number of people visible in the Trade district last Tuesday on your fingers, and the bars and Cathedral area had only a handful of people in them. Meanwhile, using an RP addon that shows the map positions of other people using the addon, you could also see that the areas were, in fact, very heavily populated-- yet you couldn't find anyone to play with.

[Velshin]

That comic is a masterpiece specially the music....damn.

[Nathiest]

New Comic: World of Warcraft: Legion #4 - "Anduin: Son of the Wolf"

If Anduin was just finding out that his father has been slain in battle... than why does he have his father's sword?!

[Teucer]

Whats the deal with the timeline at the end of the comic?

[The Stormbringer]

It's more that people on Wyrmrest Accord had to deal with the shit tier roleplayers from Moon Guard being on their server. I'm glad this is getting changed though. Was sick of that garbage being on WrA because of CRZ.

I've been on both servers for more than a year each, and they're really not that much different from each other.