Upcoming Shards of Domination Set Bonus Buffs
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hotfixes - July 30, 2021

Items and Rewards

  • Shards of Domination
    • [With weekly maintenance in each region] Blood Link – The damage and healing amount has been increased at all ranks by 20%.
    • [With weekly maintenance in each region] Winds of Winter – The amount of damage and healing stored by the Winds has been increased at all ranks by ~45%.
      • Developers’ note: The difference between the three Rune Words for the Shards of Domination system is bigger than we want it to be. We have identified and fixed a bug in Winds of Winter which was preventing some damaging and healing abilities from counting towards its total, and we have retuned Winds of Winter and Blood Link so that the relative power between Rune Word bonuses is more balanced.
  • Jotungeirr, Destiny’s Call will now reset its cooldown at the end of boss encounters.
  • Fixed an issue where Ticking Sack of Terror could trigger more than intended in the presence of multiple trinkets.

Spit Emote Removed on TBC Classic PTR
The /spit emote has been removed on the Burning Crusade Classic PTR. Players can no longer target others with the emote, however they can still spit on the ground.

It is speculated that this change is a result of people spamming /spit on players riding the Reawakened Phase-Hunter mount, the reward for purchasing the Burning Crusade Deluxe Edition.



Lead Game Designer Jeremy Feasel tweeted that he's having a look at cleaning up toxicity in the game, so this could be one of many changes to come.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Upcoming Shards of Domination Set Bonus Buffs, Spit Emote Removed on TBC Classic PTR started by Lumy View original post
Comments 563 Comments
  1. Delever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Blizzard does have a filter for swear words built in to the client. They also do take action against the usage of those words even for people who have the filter turned off depending on how and where they are used. This is not being treated any differently then what you stated. Blizzard is removing it to help combat the abuse of the emote. Something you seem to agree with given your support of filters and black lists.

    But can't actually state you agree with because you think you can't be harassed with words or even worse when online.

    - - - Updated - - -



    So you don't think you can be harassed remotely? Also why do you think that you need to be a victim of harassment in order to think something is harassment?
    No that is not at all what I think. You keep pushing your argument using a black and white binary of good or bad with no space in between. Just like those words, emotes can get abused. However, tools are there to prevent these from being abused while simultaneously keeping them in for those that do not abuse them instead of flat out deleting them/censoring them for everyone.
    We both agree that you can be verbally abused. What we do not agree on is how you view it as a black or white binary where a word/emote is just flat out wrong or isnt based on what a tremendously small % of people perceive it as whereas I believe that there is a gray area where there is nothing inherently wrong with it but can get abused depending on the situation.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bakis View Post
    The reason being 0,01% of players are emotionally unstable and gets offended? (use /ignore) Rest of us think it has a place in the game.
    Right. Those emotionally unstable people were using it to abuse players who bought a mount. Blizzard removed it from TBC classic (currently the PTR only) as a way to stop those unstable people from harassing others.
  1. Delever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by matheney2k View Post
    They haven't banned the "N" word in TBC classic either, so that pretty much kills your entire post. And the reason for a profanity filter is to help the person playing not have to be exposed to things that might offend him/her or make them upset, something the /spit spamming macro gets around, given it's nature and intent.
    And that is a failure on them. Racism, sexism, homophobia and the sorts are the types of things that fall under the binary that I just mentioned above and insults pertaining to any of these topics should flat out be banned. I cannot fathom why they would allow the N word to exist but I had no idea about this since I have not used it.
    I dont use the /spit emote either nor the WA. What bothers me is not the removal of the emote but rather the reason behind it. How does the WA get around it? There is nothing currently in the game to block emotes. If there was, no WA would be able to get around a block. You could make a WA to whisper people and start cursing them but if you block the person the WA cannot get around it.
  1. Nimin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Right. Those emotionally unstable people were using it to abuse players who bought a mount. Blizzard removed it from TBC classic (currently the PTR only) as a way to stop those unstable people from harassing others.
    The emotionally unstable people are those who crumble when faced with a /spit emote in an outdated game as Wow.
    When someone comes to you claiming to be Napoleon you don't validate them, you help them getting over it.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Delever View Post
    We both agree that you can be verbally abused. What we do not agree on is how you view it as a black or white binary where a word/emote is just flat out wrong or isnt based on what a tremendously small % of people perceive it as whereas I believe that there is a gray area where there is nothing inherently wrong with it but can get abused depending on the situation.
    You keep saying those who have the mount and are a target of harassment are in the wrong. That you can't be harassed with text. This isn't about having a binary view of an emote either being bad or good. This is about a binary view of the harassment that took place being good or bad. You don't see it as bad because you keep blaming the victims and saying how you can't be harassed with text. I see that harassment as bad and feel that removing the emote is justified and acceptable.

    It is a low value emote. It has no animations tied to it. There is no real reason to use /spit anyways and for those that do find a legitimate role play reason to use it they still can with the free form emote. The removal is to put a quick stop to those toxic players that were abusing it at the behest of a streamer. Why do you feel it is okay to harass people that bought a specific mount/package from Blizzard? Because you keep defending those actions by saying the victims should just /ignore. Or Blizzard should just mute the emote so the victims can't see it but the ones doing the harassing can still use it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Nimin View Post
    The emotionally unstable people are those who crumble when faced with a /spit emote in an outdated game as Wow. When someone comes to you claiming to be Napoleon you don't validate them, you help them getting over it.
    The victims are not the unstable ones in this case. It is those who are harassing over a mount the victims bought. Why are you trying to claim otherwise? Why do you keep blaming the victim when they didn't even do anything here? They were just playing the game when triggered people decided to target them. Is it because you are one of those people that repeatedly /spit on those with a specific mount?
  1. cface's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Blizzard does have a filter for swear words built in to the client. They also do take action against the usage of those words even for people who have the filter turned off depending on how and where they are used. This is not being treated any differently then what you stated. Blizzard is removing it to help combat the abuse of the emote. Something you seem to agree with given your support of filters and black lists.

    But can't actually state you agree with because you think you can't be harassed with words or even worse when online.

    - - - Updated - - -



    So you don't think you can be harassed remotely? Also why do you think that you need to be a victim of harassment in order to think something is harassment?
    No, I dont (facebook/sms is different, hope you see that). If you get all buthurt over a spit in a game, you need help. You're as sensitive as high priests were 100+ years ago.
    Just put spit or whatever emotes that hurt you so much, into mature filter.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by cface View Post
    No, I dont (facebook/sms is different, hope you see that). If you get all buthurt over a spit in a game, you need help. You're as sensitive as high priests were 100+ years ago. Just put spit or whatever emotes that hurt you so much, into mature filter.
    This isn't about people getting hurt over a spite emote. It is about people doing it repeatedly to people that bought a mount/package. There is even a weakaura to do it on target of the person. How is facebook and text messages different? It is just text right? It is being done online. This is the problem. You create arbitrary standards for what can and can not be harassment.

    And yet you claim others are the ones "butt hurt" over something in game when you can't even acknowledge that you can be harassed in a game.
  1. Delever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    This isn't about people getting hurt over a spite emote. It is about people doing it repeatedly to people that bought a mount/package. There is even a weakaura to do it on target of the person. How is facebook and text messages different? It is just text right? It is being done online. This is the problem. You create arbitrary standards for what can and can not be harassment.

    And yet you claim others are the ones "butt hurt" over something in game when you can't even acknowledge that you can be harassed in a game.
    You cannot be serious.....
    You think targeted online harassment and reputation tarnishing straight to your face is the same as spamming a /spit emote from your anonymous avatar to another anonymous avatar from across the globe that you will probably never encounter again?
  1. Nimin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    You are making a big deal out of an emote and even getting so riled up as to insult others who see it as no big deal.
    The fact you keep tip-toeing between "It's just an emote bro" and "people are victims of harm from reading this emote every now and then" tells everything about your bad faith.

    How is it that when we complain its removal it's nothing special it was just an emote but when those snowflakes complain for its presence it's a big deal warranting global censoring?

    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    You can be harassed with text. You keep trying to blame the victims here
    Those so called """"""""""victims"""""""""" can go fuck off. You're not a victim of anything by being slightly marginally offended at something, maybe.
    It doesn't give them a right to victimize the vast majority of the userbase by censoring an emote that was both classic and most of us were using correctly.

    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    They were just playing the game when triggered people decided to target them. Is it because you are one of those people that repeatedly /spit on those with a specific mount?
    Again, "triggered people decided to target them", and that's wrong to you, but at the very same instant those who got triggered from this are "poor victims".
    You're not arguing with logic.

    Also no, I never used /spit but I'll defend the right of sane people to do it. Mollycoddling mental fragility to these heights is pathetic and harms all.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Delever View Post
    You think targeted online harassment and reputation tarnishing straight to your face is the same as spamming a /spit emote from your anonymous avatar to another anonymous avatar from across the globe that you will probably never encounter again?
    When the emote is being used for targeted harassment. Yes. Why do you think otherwise? You literally keep saying targeted harassment is acceptable because it is being done with a emote.
  1. cface's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Delever View Post
    You cannot be serious.....
    You think targeted online harassment and reputation tarnishing straight to your face is the same as spamming a /spit emote from your anonymous avatar to another anonymous avatar from across the globe that you will probably never encounter again?
    Put him on ignore, obvious troll. So many on these forums the last years, they don't care at all about what they're talking about, they just want to be right, not to understand
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nimin View Post
    The fact you keep tip-toeing between "It's just an emote bro" and "people are victims of harm from reading this emote every now and then" tells everything about your bad faith.
    It is just an emote. That isn't something I've tip toed around. Lol. People are victims of harassment using the emote. That isn't bad faith. What is bad faith is inventing claims that another person hasn't had and ignore harassment that is taking place just because you can't accept it as reality.

    If it is just an emote and the targets of the harassment are emotionally unstable why are you reacting emotionally about the emote being removed? Why are you claiming to be a victim because you can not longer type /spit in a video game?

    Again, "triggered people decided to target them", and that's wrong to you, but at the very same instant those who got triggered from this are "poor victims".
    The truth is what is wrong with me? Lmao. You can't be a good judge of what sane is when you ignore the truth. People harassing others over a mount is a text book definition of being triggered.
  1. EyelessCrow's Avatar
    Personally I don't think WoW is ever going to recover. It's a game by pussies for pussies at this point. Which I find funny considering they want to put kid gloves and foam padding on every corner for said weaklings to feel safe in, meanwhile mass murder is committed on a regular basis as a plot point.

    Nothing about this game is appealing at this point. They've ruined it like season 8 of GoT ruined the whole show for me. There's nothing to go back to because they've made it all so pointless. I'm only here to watch it crumble.
  1. Delever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    When the emote is being used for targeted harassment. Yes. Why do you think otherwise? You literally keep saying targeted harassment is acceptable because it is being done with a emote.
    It is assholish behaviour but how are you actually being harassed? What is actually being done to you? How are your feelings getting hurt by a /spit emote from an anonymus orc?
    Did you feelings also get hurt when during the end of the DK quesline NPCs were throwing rotten shit at you? Its a fake online world where you are role playing a character. Its immature behavior but equating it with actual harassment is immensely downplaying and insulting actual victims of harassment.
    Imagine a therapy circle where people have gathered to share their experiences. Victim no1 shares they were sexually abused by her co workers causing her trauma. Victim no2 shares that they deveoped PTSD from a war. Victim no3 shares that they were doxxed by an organized cyber bullying where people created a fake profile of them on FB and proceeded to destroy their reputation through fake messages and pictures. Then victim no4 shares that they were afking on a warp stalker in shattrath and people passing by would use a /spit emote on them before leaving and forgetting about it.
    How do you think this would make actual victims feel? Putting the label "victim" on these people over something so miniscule and equating their negligible experience to harassment and abuse does more harm than good.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by EyelessCrow View Post
    Personally I don't think WoW is ever going to recover. It's a game by pussies for pussies at this point. Which I find funny considering they want to put kid gloves and foam padding on every corner for said weaklings to feel safe in, meanwhile mass murder is committed on a regular basis as a plot point.
    It is hilarious that people keep trying to claim that because the story has murder they should be allowed to be toxic to follow players.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Delever View Post
    It is assholish behaviour but how are you actually being harassed? What is actually being done to you? How are your feelings getting hurt by a /spit emote from an anonymus orc?
    So targeted harassment is not bad? If it is a fake online world why are you getting so worked up over an emote being removed? You are the one that keeps downplaying harassment because you think harassment can't happen online. You keep victim shaming. Remember when you said you were not yet now you are setting arbitrary limits on who can be a victim and who can't be.

    How do you think it would make actual victims feel to say that abuse isn't abuse if it doesn't meet a threshold you personally agree with? All because you can't accept that harassment can occur in a video game. Lol.
  1. Nimin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    It is hilarious that people keep trying to claim that because the story has murder they should be allowed to be toxic to follow players.
    Oh no! Not following players, that's too much.

    Jesus. At some point you guys are gonna break under the simple pressure of existance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    If it is a fake online world why are you getting so worked up over an emote being removed?
    And again with the bad faith.
    Pick a position: either the emote is nothing and thus both sides should ignore whether it exists or not, or the emote carries serious consequences and thus both usage and removal are important.

    You can't tip-toe constantly between one or the other when it suits you.
  1. Schmeebs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nimin View Post
    Pick a position: either the emote is nothing and thus both sides should ignore whether it exists or not, or the emote carries serious consequences and thus both usage and removal are important.

    You can't tip-toe constantly between one or the other when it suits you.
    Thats a really stupid argument, You can think the emote is stupid and removing it is a good thing, but also admit at the same time that most of the time the emote is basically meaningless. The community is the ones that weaponized it (and Asmonshitface egged it on), blame them if you are attached to your emote.
  1. BreakerOfWills's Avatar
    I think it's grand that with everything going on that players can come together to explain why it's breaking their hearts that they can't spam /spit on people til it fills up chat screens.
  1. rhorle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nimin View Post
    Oh no! Not following players, that's too much. Jesus. At some point you guys are gonna break under the simple pressure of existance.
    Says the person that is getting upset because players can't be toxic to fellow players. Weird right?

    And again with the bad faith.Pick a position: either the emote is nothing and thus both sides should ignore whether it exists or not, or the emote carries serious consequences and thus both usage and removal are important.You can't tip-toe constantly between one or the other when it suits you.
    It isn't about the emote. Why do you still not understand that? It was about the specific emote being used as a tool for harassment. Removing it puts a temporary stop to the harassment. The emote itself has little value to the game so there is little reason to save it. You keep projecting about bad faith discussion.
  1. Delever's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Says the person that is getting upset because players can't be toxic to fellow players. Weird right?



    It isn't about the emote. Why do you still not understand that? It was about the specific emote being used as a tool for harassment. Removing it puts a temporary stop to the harassment. The emote itself has little value to the game so there is little reason to save it. You keep projecting about bad faith discussion.
    You have the nerve to talk about projection when in the post above you started once again arguing in absolutes, claiming that somehow I think harassment in video games cannot happen at all which is not what I said.
    Harassment in video games can absolutely happen when people message you hurtful things like racist or homophobic remarks and when people actively prevent you from playing like camping your corpse or trying to cover an npc with a mount.
    To equate these with the use of an emote is ridiculous and all you are doing is validating a hypersensitive reaction that only gives room for fake victimhood to escalate, further invalidating actual abuse victims.

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