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Beta Key Giveaway Week 3: Winners have been selected!

Warcraft Movie Footage, Boats and Portals on Map, PLH Addon Updates, DLC #641 

by
chaud
Published on 2018-07-23 05:08 AM

Diablo Comics Coming Soon!

Legend Deathrattle Hunter - A Farewell to the Witchwood Meta! Guide ft. StanCifka

Duncan Jones - Behind the Scenes Warcraft Footage
Duncan Jones recently uploaded a few videos on his twitter feed showcasing a few sets that were created for the Warcraft film. One of the scenes below is actually the filming of a Troll invasion of Stormwind that did not make it into the final film.





Boats and Portals on Map - Patch 8.0.1
With the pre-expansion patch, hub maps now display a circular icon at locations for boats and portals. When you hover your cursor over these icons it will tell you the name of the location that the boat or portal leads to and the continent.



Addon Spotlight - Personal Loot Helper BfA Changes
Personal Loot Helper creator CardinalM1 recently shared a Reddit post detailing all the changes that were made to the addon with the prepatch and beyond. For those who do not know, this addon has been used by many people to share personal loot that is upgrades to others and not to the one who receives the item initially. You can download the addon from the Twitch client or here. Here is a breakdown of what has changed!

  • Updated UI
  • Reduced sSocial pressure to trade away your personal loot
  • The addon will no longer notify via chat that an item is an upgrade.
  • The addon will not automatically whisper anyone.
  • Coordinate Rolls mode has been removed.
  • The option to display loot in raid frames has been removed.
  • When you loot an item you will now have the option to "keep" or "offer to group."
  • If the user selects "keep" then the addon will not make any alerts.
  • If the user selects "offer to group" then the addon will notify anyone using the addon that can use the item that it is available.
  • Notified players can either pass or request the item for main spec, off spec or transmog.
  • The addon does an internal /roll for each requestor and shows the looter each requestors’ reason for rolling, ilvl difference, and roll. The looter can then choose to keep the item for themselves after all or trade it to one of the requestors.
  • Ultimately the decision is still up to the looter as the trade still has to happen manually.
  • If a winner is made, the addon will alert the person to open a trade.
  • The entire group does not see this going on, so social pressure is alleviated.




Dark Legacy Comics #641
DLC #641 has been released.
23 Comments

July 20 Hotfixes - Raid Nerf and Gold Transfer Cap, PvP Disqualification Policy 

by
chaud
Published on 2018-07-21 12:40 AM

Auction House Dance Party July 22
The Auction House Dance Party micro holiday is now active for the entire day! Head on over to the main auction house in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar to find it decorated for the event with a light up floor, disco balls, a d.j with exciting music, etc. Also, throughout the day random races will take over the dance floor!







Patch 8.0.1 Hotfixes - July 20, 2018
Per the hotfix notes below, health of enemies in older Legion raids was reduced by roughly 31%, and their damage has dropped by a similar amount.


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes

Character Services
  • Characters at level 110 and above may now move up to 1,000,000 gold when performing a Character Transfer.

Creatures and NPCs
  • Fixed a visual bug that caused some characters to lose the tops of their heads.

Dungeons and Raids
  • The health and damage of all enemies in Emerald Nightmare, Trial of Valor, The Nighthold, and Tomb of Sargeras has been significantly reduced.
  • The experience awarded on completion of a random dungeon has been increased.
  • Antorus, the Burning Throne
    • Fixed a bug preventing Death’s Advance from functioning correctly in certain encounter situations, such as Aggramar’s Flame Rend.
  • Eye of Azshara
    • Damage dealt by Lightning Strike, Warlord Parjesh’s Crashing Wave, and Quicksand have been significantly reduced.
  • The Nexus
    • Chaotic Energy Bursts from Chaotic Rifts no longer inflict excessive damage.
  • Obsidian Sanctum
    • Sartharion’s Large Satchel of Spoils should again contain loot.
  • Return to Karazhan
    • Mana Confluences’ Ablative Shield should no longer absorb an excessive amount of damage.
  • Utgarde Keep
    • Dragonflayer Runecaster’s Bolthorn's Rune of Flame now deals less damage.

Items
  • Darkmoon Deck: Promises no longer reduces some non-mana resources.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented banners from granting expected honor, experience, and reputation bonuses.
  • Fishing Chair and Nat's Fishing Chair have been temporarily converted into objects that are not chairs, while a bug with their functionality is fixed. They will return to their former function in a future patch.

Player versus Player
  • Adjusted PvP scaling to reduce the difference in power and damage between players of different item levels at level 110.
  • Fixed a bug preventing some players from obtaining Honorable Medallion while PvP-enabled.

Professions
  • Fishing
    • Fixed a bug that caused the wrong sound when casting.

Quests
  • Fixed a bug with the reputation bonus on completion of "Death to Agogridon". If you previously completed the quest, speak to Karnum Marshweaver in Desolace to receive your reward.
  • The talking quest NPC should no longer appear for players who are nearby, but are not the Hunter on “Never Hunt Alone”.
  • Players should again be able to complete “All Charged Up”.
  • Fixed a bug with the conversation required for “Secrets of Wrymskull Uncovered”, allowing completion of “The Echo of Ymiron”.
  • Low-level players are now able to do appropriate damage to the Devilsaur Queen during "The Ballad of Maximillian”.
  • “Pitching In” can again be completed.

World
  • It is again possible to earn credit toward "Field Photographer" when using the S.E.L.F.I.E. cam anywhere within the Path of Uther.
  • Alliance characters can again complete "Uther's Blessing" by approaching Uther's statue.

Legion Companion App Fix
It looks like the Legion Companion App character swap change may not be intended.



PvP Disqualification Policy Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As part of our continued efforts to combat cheating and unfair play in World of Warcraft, we’ve recently made a change to our policies regarding PvP disqualifications.

As of the Battle for Azeroth Pre-Patch, any player who is found to have engaged in unfair practices that result in their disqualification from end-of-season PvP rewards will also have their ability to queue for rated PvP matches immediately revoked. This restriction will continue through the remainder of the season in which they were disqualified, which includes the current “Post-Season” available until Battle for Azeroth launches.

This change is intended to minimize the impact that disqualified players have on those who are playing legitimately while the PvP season continues, and is just one aspect of our ongoing commitment to upholding the competitive integrity of World of Warcraft PvP.
43 Comments

Patch 8.0.1 Hotfixes - July 19, Legion Companion App, EULA Update, Blue Posts 

by
chaud
Published on 2018-07-20 11:29 AM

Challenge Rift - Week 56:

Three New Druid Cards - Treant Interactions!

Patch 8.0.1 - Hotfixes July 19
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes

Creatures and NPCs
  • Damage dealt by all creatures below level 100 has been reduced by up to 25%.
  • Defeating Shok’Thokar creatures in Desolace now grants both Gelkis and Magram reputation.
  • The Sky Crystal no longer instantly kills Alani when used by a high-level player, and Alani is once again lootable.

Dungeons and Raids
  • Antorus, the Burning Throne
    • Reduced the damage done by a number of "tank swap" abilities throughout the zone.
    • Argus the Unmaker
      • Reduced the damage dealt by Sweeping Scythe by 30%.
  • The Arcway
    • Ivanyr
      • Volatile Magic damage reduced on Mythic difficulty.
  • Dire Maul
    • Prince Tortheldrin
      • Whirlwind should no longer deal excessive damage.
  • Heart of Fear
    • Empress Shek’zeer
      • Casting spells within Shek’zeer’s Dissonance Field once again depletes its energy.
  • Neltharion's Lair
    • Dargrul
      • Corrected an issue that caused Dargrul’s energy to refill too rapidly.
  • The Nighthold
    • Gul’dan
      • Soul Siphon no longer heals for an excessive amount.
  • Return to Karazhan
    • Shade of Medivh
      • Piercing Missiles should no longer deal excessive damage.
  • Scarlet Halls
    • Houndmaster Braun
      • Bloody Mess should no longer deal excessive damage.
  • Scarlet Monastery
    • Commander Durand
      • Dashing Strike no longer deals excessive damage.
  • Ulduar
    • Reforged Hammer of Ancient Kings should again reliably drop from Yogg-Saron for "Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings".

Player versus Player
  • The effectiveness of trinkets that are obtained via PvE sources such as Dungeons and Raids have been reduced by 75% in PvP.
  • Arenas and Battlegrounds
    • Corrected the amount of damage dealt by players to creatures and vehicles in Alterac Valley and Isle of Conquest.
    • Fixed a bug that prevented end-of-match rewards from dropping at the end of Battlegrounds and Arenas.
  • War Mode
    • Premade Group Finder groups in the Quest and World Boss categories will now properly filter listing according to the War Mode state of the party leader and potential applicants.

Professions
  • Fixed a bug that prevented several First Aid recipe items from requiring the appropriate Profession.
  • Corrected an issue that could cause Draenor Garrison NPCs to fail to offer work orders.
  • Alchemy
    • Fixed a bug preventing players from discovering new Pandaren Alchemy recipes.
    • Some older-expansion flasks no longer provide more stats than Legion flasks and potions.
  • Cooking
    • The cooking achievement Dinner Impossible no longer requires Strand of the Ancients.
  • Fishing
    • Fixed a bug that prevented some players from gaining Legion fishing ranks when using rare fish.
  • Herbalism
    • Fixed an issue that could cause herb nodes from Outland through Pandaria to yield the wrong herb type.
  • Mining
    • Corrected an issue that could cause players to receive no ore from mining nodes.

Quests
  • The start of the Mage Tower artifact storyline quest no longer requires an impossible-to-meet artifact trait condition.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Strom’kar to be invisible to certain races during its acquisition.
  • The Slitherblade Naga vehicle's abilities should now deal damage and heal properly on "Wetter than Wet".
  • The Frightened Miner should now reliably follow his path for "Miner Troubles".
  • The delicious contents of Yak’s Milk Flask again heals “Fallen Sentinels”.
  • Wyrmcult Blackwhelps can now be collected for "Whelps of the Wyrmcult".
  • General Nazgrim is again present for "The Art of War" and "Warchief's Command: Jade Forest".
  • During “Bringer of the Light” at the Exodar, Fel Annihilator’s Sonic Boom no longer deals excessive damage.

Guild Pane Still Exists
Some players have noticed that old guild pane features didn't make it to the community system. The old guild pane with features such as sorting by last online is still there, just type "/guildroster". Thanks to Tamashi for the tip!

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a way to use the old permissions system with more fine grained permissions, your only option now is the grouped permissions. This means you can't do things like allow members to edit their own notes anymore.



Hati Will Return
In addition to the Dev Q&A, Senior Narrative Designer Steve Danuser tweeted that Hati will eventually return.



Legion Companion App Change
Thanks to DarthRigo who posted a thread on our forums and tweeted BlizzardCS, we have learned that the switch characters button in the Legion Companion app was intentionally removed. It is now a little more involved to switch between your characters.



EULA Update - Cloud Gaming Services
Blizzard updated the EULA to add an additional section that disallows the use of Cloud Gaming services. Thanks to Deagalus for the heads up.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
License Limitations. Blizzard may suspend or revoke your license to use the Platform, or parts, components and/or single features thereof, if you violate, or assist others in violating, the license limitations set forth below. You agree that you will not, in whole or in part or under any circumstances, do the following:

Cloud Computing: Use the Platform, including a Game, in connection with any unauthorized third-party “cloud computing” services, “cloud gaming” services, or any software or service designed to enable the unauthorized streaming or transmission of Game content from a third-party server to any device.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Wargames in Battle for Azeroth
Wargames aren't in the core UI, but you can type /wg to challenge the targeted player. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Battle Chest and the "New" System
The Battle Chest basically doesn't exist as a standalone purchase anymore.

You make your Starter Edition, you add game time and then you immediately have access to all expansions up to, and including, Legion - no need to actually make a separate purchase of the Battle Chest anymore in order to upgrade the account. The only thing you would need to purchase separately is Battle for Azeroth.

Alternatively, if a player wants to jump straight into the latest action on a new account - they can buy the Complete Collection which includes 30 days of game-time (so unlocking access to all previous expansions) and Battle for Azeroth (including the level 110 character boost). (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

FinalBossTV #166 - Jdotb, Darrie & Mitt: World of Warcraft: MDI Discussion
FinalBossTV recently talked about the MDI with members of Method.
28 Comments

Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas - Battle for Azeroth 

by
chaud
Published on 2018-07-19 05:52 PM

Developer Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas - Battle for Azeroth
Ion Hazzikostas answered questions about Battle for Azeroth today!



Apologies
  • This wasn't the smoothest launch. It wasn't the experience they wanted to deliver or that players deserve.
  • In NA, there were a lot of issues with login and account servers.
  • This was traced back to the one time process that was being run to convert a guild to a community when someone logged in to a guild for the first time. There were some edge cases with really old characters.
  • There have been a lot of gameplay quality of life issues. Random abilities in dungeons are one shotting people, or things in old raids weren't scaled right.
  • You shouldn't have to deal with these issues, the team is working to make sure they don't happen in the future.
  • The past squish was a manual process that involved editing thousands of things by hand, which resulted in a lot of human error.
  • This time around, the team modified systems to be more scalable in the future. This will allow them to more easily squish things in the future.
  • The new system had some bugs, tens of thousands of bugs were fixed thanks to feedback submitted during the PTR and Beta.
  • The team is fixing things as fast as possible when they are reported, hundreds a day.
  • What you experienced yesterday is the worst it will ever be. Hopefully within a few days the scaling issues will be fixed.
  • The more specific you can be with feedback, the easier it will be to fix.
  • After things are fixed, the team will look at how they can do things better next time.
  • Knowing that things can go wrong is why the new content is coming next week rather than this week.

Artifact Appearances
  • Changing actual artifact appearances is a character specific thing. If you have a Monk and want to use an appearance that you unlocked on one Monk on your other Monk, you'll be able to do that when you transmog to an Artifact appearance.

Spell Animations
  • The team is looking to expand the custom casting animations. Warlocks have a couple right now.

Dungeons
  • There should be a bonus for daily random dungeons. If it says weekly, it is either broken or a display issue that will be fixed.
  • End of dungeon objective XP is no longer there, it has been rolled into the final boss of the dungeon.

Personal Loot
  • Mythic Raid mounts should be tradable on personal loot.
  • Leather Azerite shoulders that are being looked at by multiple classes will have different powers for each of those classes. Normally everyone can look at the stats and see who it is better for, but it is complex to evaluate all of the different powers.
  • The team doesn't want anyone to feel pressured to give away loot that is an upgrade for them.
  • With Azerite Armor, item level is important, but there are many different trait combinations that you may want for your item sets. Not allowing it to be traded means there won't be any pressure to let someone else have it.

Mythic+ Dungeons
  • There were some factors about the format of the MDI that made it not totally not representative of live servers.
  • Through most of the rounds, player's entire gear sets were set to a fixed item level. Your Artifact was also the same item level as the rest of your gear, which is different than live. That heavily nerfed classes that rely on their weapons, which resulted in some classes being less optimal.
  • Players were also able to pick Affixes or there was a limited Affix pool, so they would often avoid Affixes that hurt specific comps.
  • The team wants to go further with how Affixes vary optimal compositions.
  • Necrotic was supposed to counter the Blood Death Knight, but legendary items and AMS countered that.
  • Some specs will be better than others with certain Affixes.
  • The team wants to get away from their being one all around best tank like there was at the end of Legion.
  • Patches are increasingly delivering data which is unlocked when it makes sense for the game as a whole.
  • With Mythic+ seasons, the team wants to make it parallel to the other endgame seasons.
  • New PvP season, new raid tier, and new Mythic+ season all at the same time ideally.

Class Changes
  • Class development is an ongoing process. There will be ongoing tuning and balancing for the next few weeks to keep things sane, then focus will shift to making all specs viable at Battle for Azeroth endgame.
  • The team will also tune Azerite Powers to keep them competitive.
  • Larger changes will happen in Patch 8.1 and beyond.

Lore
  • Horde loyalists, don't lose heart! You aren't wrong to be dismayed at the current situation, but there are some things that haven't been revealed. The heart of the Horde still beats, and there are plenty that will take up that banner for the Horde.
  • The Horde is a set of different groups brought together by a common interest.
  • The Orcs are all about Blood, Honor, Glory, and a savage existence. The Tauren, walking in the steps of the Earthmother. Other races, all working together.
  • It's natural that there will be tensions.
  • What is the Horde's purpose and guiding values?
  • Both factions will have to look inward and reflect, what are they fighting for?

Stat Squish
  • It would be nice if there was a way to avoid future stat squishes.
  • Reinventing the entire combat system is a daunting task.
  • Power progression is a core part of the game.
  • There is a large number of content tiers, and the team has settled on a number of item levels between difficulties and tiers that makes the power increase feel meaningful.
  • Defeating a challenging boss to earn an item with +21 Strength that replaces your +20 Strength one isn't great.
  • The stat squish doesn't feel super elegant to the team, but they best thing they've come up with so far.
  • The team didn't want to make leveling more difficult after the additional Patch 7.3.5 changes.
  • Things feel slower right now, but that isn't intended. The team is actively investigating and will fix this. Leveling should feel just as fast after the patch as it did before.
  • The team has considered doing a level squish. A brand new player might be deterred by seeing such a high level they need to attain to play the endgame.
  • Sometimes you go too many levels before you get a new ability, which would be solved by a level squish.
  • If you thought things were broken in the past few days, the risks are far greater for everything breaking with a level squish.
  • It also might feel bad to log in and be level 70 again.
  • If someone has been away for a few years and hears about a new expansion with a level cap of 80, that would be confusing.
  • The time spent doing a level squish is probably better spent making new content.

Camera
  • The team made a slight change to the camera anchor point for the short races to solve an issue with geometry in dungeons and raids.
  • Gnomes had a camera anchor slightly lower than Humans. If you are against a wall with a lip in a dungeon, it wouldn't interfere with a Human's camera, but it would for a Gnome because your camera was slightly lower.
  • If you zoom in the camera on a Goblin or Gnome, it goes towards a spot slightly above your head and then will snap to your head's level.
  • Affix that makes you play in pro (first person) mode? This should be a thing!

Hati
  • We may not have seen the last of Hati or other Artifacts that had unique companions or personalities.

Artifacts and Transmog
  • The Artifact fishing pole wasn't instrumental in draining the power in Silithus. You can keep using it, but it is tied to Legion fishing.
  • It's intended (for now) that transmogging an artifact applies the appearance to both hands.
  • Artifact transmog is breaking the rules, so for now it will just override the appearance of whatever is in your hands.
  • Eventually the team wants to fix this and add more customization.
  • Feral and Guardian artifact forms are tied to the weapons as a result of how the Artifacts were built. For now that is the world we live in. Transmog is built on items and associated visuals.
  • The team could add ways to earn other bear and cat forms for transmog in the future.
  • The team wants to do better with fist weapons in the future.

Azerite Traits
  • There are already a lot of Azerite traits that are gameplay modifying.
  • Some of these traits are more powerful than a set bonus, approaching a legendary item, and you have multiple traits like that.
  • There are some passive ones as well for players that don't want gameplay modifying traits.
  • There will be more traits added in future patches.
  • After you first few weeks with an Artifact, you didn't really get any more choices or see a lot of changes.
  • Azerite Traits will allow you to make more choices as you get new upgrades and build different sets.

Classes
  • There is a lot of depth with Azerite traits.
  • There is bloat if the team keeps adding additional talent rows.
  • The team keeps having to give you something new, just to give you something new. This adds bloat and increases homogenization. If this keeps happening, everyone will end up the same.
  • The team is focusing on systems that are tied to a specific expansion, giving you dozens of traits that modify your gameplay. This will all be left behind next expansion with new set of traits and choices.
  • There might be a new talent row or other permanent customization in the future.
  • The team recognizes it is fun to get new abilities!
  • In the short term, traits are less exciting than new abilities, but the long term health of the game has to be kept in mind. They can't afford to just think about today.

Solo Challenges
  • The team is interested in doing solo challenges like the Mage Tower again in the future.
  • Early on it was a very difficult challenge. It got easier over time as knowledge spread and players got more gear.
  • It was a type of gameplay that many players hadn't experienced before.
  • You didn't have to depend on others, it all rested on you and was a test of your abilities.
177 Comments
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