Muffins Presents Cataclysm Part 1: Kalimdor
Muffins released a pretty nice video of the Beta servers and this should give you a pretty good idea of how things changed in Kalimdor after the Cataclysm.





Forums Requiring Authenticator Code
Originally Posted by Bashiok (Blue Tracker)
As a part of our ongoing dedication to account security, players who utilize authenticators on their account will now be asked to enter it upon their first time logging into the forums, and then periodically thereafter. By ensuring that, even if their account is compromised, without the attached authenticator their login credentials can’t be used. This additional security layer helps to better protect players in all services accessed by logging in with their account and password.

We’d like to urge all players who don’t already use one to please consider attaching an authenticator to help protect themselves and their accounts. Information on how to obtain an authenticator as well as additional account security information can be found at: http://www.battle.net/security/

BlizzCon 2010 Virtual Ticket Now On Sale
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Want to experience the panel discussions, tournaments, game-related announcements, and all the excitement of BlizzCon from the comfort of your own home? The BlizzCon Virtual Ticket multi-channel Internet stream is now available to order around the world for $39.95 USD (pricing may vary by region). In addition, new DIRECTV subscribers in the United States who sign up for DIRECTV service between now and September 24 through www.blizzard.directv.com will receive this year's BlizzCon Virtual Ticket coverage for free. Existing DIRECTV customers will be able to purchase the event on DIRECTV Pay Per View for $39.95 beginning October 9.

Anyone who orders the event will also receive this year's BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft in-game item. In addition, for the first time, BlizzCon 2010 Virtual Ticket holders will have access to exclusive BlizzCon merchandise.

To order or learn more, visit the BlizzCon 2010 Internet stream or DIRECTV sign-up offer pages.

Blue posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Increased HP on Cataclysm creatures
The speed at which a green geared level 80 coming out of Northrend kills creatures in these zones is more in line with what we expect for and from combat times. Raid geared level 80s will still kill level 80 NPCs in under 10 seconds, but at least they will be able to fire off a few abilities before the creature is killed.

Furthermore, upon completion of the first series of quests in Hyjal or Vashj'ir, quest geared level 80 from Northrend should see a significant jump in power due to quest reward itemization. (Source)

Optional and Situational Talents
Exactly. This is the kind of thing a lot of players are going to have to get used to, and frankly, it's a paradigm shift we are still adjusting too as well. We want there to be some talents where you say "Hmmm. I'm not sure I want that." The "Hmmm" is key. If everyone can instantly can dismiss a given talent as garbage, then it's not a decision. It's also not a decision if you are comparing say Selfless Healer to a +10% self damage talent on a primary ability. (Source)

[...] There are going to be non-negotiable talents. We don't really want to make the Prot spec that skips Hammer of the Righteous to be competitive. We don't want every talent to feel like that though. (Source)

Glyphs on Beta
You'd be better off just ignoring glyphs completely at this point. Trying to view the talent changes through the lens of old glyphs is just going to lead to strange feedback. This is true of every class. We have turned off some glyphs in beta that really change gameplay to the extent that it will mess up feedback. Perhaps we should just turn them all off until we work on glyphs. (Source)

Tanks Stamina curves
Since I am sure it will be asked based on that info, paladins and warriors have the same Stamina curves now. A naked warrior and paladin of the same race will have the same health at 85. Both Protection trees get the same amount of Stamina as a passive. That number will likely be something like 10 or 15% Stamina depending on tuning. (In our current build it is 15%.) In similar gear, their health should be very similar. We'll provide the differences in their cooldowns and how they tank. DKs and druids are likely to have different amounts of health as well.

Again, this could change. (Source)

Shield and Tanking Weapons Itemization
We are making two kinds of shield (healer and tank) and one-handed tanking weapons. We are trying to make all of the tanking weapons about the same speed (no slow vs. fast). With all of the changes, using a one-handed Str weapon might be a reasonable substitute in many cases. We might eventually decide to no longer make tanking weapons (since druids and DKs don't really have them) but we're still doing it for now. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Crusader Strike
We have been trying Crusader Strike out at both 3 seconds and 4 seconds to see what fits the best. At the moment it is 3 sec (talented) for Ret and 4 sec for Prot and Holy. It all depends on how many other things are going on that you have to juggle. Inquisition, Zealotry and Exorcism and Divine Purpose procs in addition to the basics of CS, TV and Judgement with Holy Wrath filling in any holes can add up to a lot.

While we definitely want Ret to have an actual rotation in the sense that you aren't just hitting things when they come off of cooldown, we don't want to make it more complex than the other dps specs in the game. (Source)

Haste effect on Seal of Vengeance and Judgement of the Wise
Excellent question. It isn't a talent, but Seal of Truth (Seal of Vengeance) will tick faster with haste and Judgement of the Wise's periodic mana energize will tick faster with haste. A Ret paladin with enough haste might have enough mana to throw out the occasional Consecration, while a fresh 85 might not be able to afford it often. (Source)

Divine Guardian / Divine Protection
Divine Guardian doesn't affect the paladin. Otherwise we feared it would just get used as another tank cooldown instead of for the raid utility for which it was intended.

We're strongly considering changing Divine Protection into a short cooldown. It is currently a clone of Shield Wall. Considering the paladin 85 also offers strong emergency damage reduction, we thought they could use a short cooldown ability (say 30-60 sec). Shield Block for warriors is being repositioned more as a short cooldown ability. (Source)

Avenger's Shield
Avenger's Shield silences as a baseline effect. It no longer dazes, since all that seemed to accomplish was making pulling take longer. (Source)

Righteous Fury
Righteous Fury now affects all threat. (Source)

Holy Shield and Glyph of Salvation
I'm not optimistic that we'll keep the Salv glyph, but we'll see. As to Holy Shield, it is going through rapid iteration. Our current implementation has it providing 5% block per stack of Holy Power, up to a max of 15%. So you can use Holy Power for threat, healing or mitigation depending on current circumstances. You should be able to keep the 15% block up all the time with a very small amount of effort.

Warriors get 15% block baseline, so this means the paladin has to work harder for it. Seeing as how the paladin doesn't have to maintain Demo Shout or Thunderclap's debuff, this doesn't seem too great a burden. (Source)

Let Holy Wrath apply Vindication
This is, in fact, exactly what we did. (Source)

Is Paladin getting too complicated?
As a response to some of the sky falling rhetoric in this thread (not specifically the post I quoted, which was worded quite reasonably) and others like it, allow me to offer the following:

We have said many times in the past several months that we don't think paladins have enough going on. Now that we're starting to deliver on that, it doesn't surprise me at all to see some concern that things are changing. I'm sure there are some players out there that just really liked the 6969 rotation, but in a game as large as WoW, there are some players who like anything. We need to do what we think is right for the game, and that includes adding some depth to the paladin class. Our goal is to make the class more fun. We don't expect every forum poster is going to 100% agree that we're going about that in the same way they would. We think in the end though that the class will be more fun. (Source)

Holy Power: Will this get a new UI element similar to the Warlock shards or Rogue combo points?
Yes. (Source)

Touched by the Light
Prot paladins get it as a passive. It converts Str to spell power but does not affect healing. Part of what we're trying to do is get paladins to specialize more and be less capable of doing everything with one spec. (Source)

Word of Glory and Inquisition
All paladins can use the heal (Word of Glory) and the self-buff (Inquisition). Prot paladins have a talent to allow them to get a defensive use (Holy Shield). Proper use of Holy Power will distinguish a good paladin from a bad, but the system is far more forgiving than combo points. Consider that if you totally ignored Holy Shield you'd be giving up 15% block. Decent, but not life-threatening. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Blizzcon 2010 Stream, Cataclysm Video, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 95 Comments
  1. Will's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dawn Falcon View Post
    A lot of adults in Europe don't have a credit card, will. Everyone having one is an American thing. (A lot of British adults do but by no means all and considerably less do in many other European countries)

    And no, Blizzard don't sell authenticators anywhere else than their store, as smart as that would be.
    Blizzard's loss then. I agree with you. When I went to the US (and even Iceland) everyone had a card. Not so common here. The easiest thing to get here is probably a Visa Debit and (in the UK specifically) a lot of people don't bother - cash is still a perfectly good payment method. But despite this I still strongly urge you to try and get one Perhaps some friends, family or even neighbours may be willing to order in one for you?

    Authenticator for the forums - To be honest I don't see how this is necessary because it means I'd have to carry my authenticator everywhere I go. I know that's not a hard thing to do but it's quite frustrating when I forget it by accident and want to harmlessly check the forums from work or something.

    Aside from those faults they did say it's periodic (only, we don't know how long these periods are) and authenticating doesn't take long.
  1. Nathiest's Avatar
    Look at your Debt Card. Does it have either a Visa or Mastercard logo? If they do then YES you can use em like any old credit card. If your debt card does not? What are you stuck in the early 90's?
  1. mmocca5d152c38's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nik View Post
    firstlol
    You proud of yourself?
  1. dadou131988's Avatar
    To be honest, I find that Blizzard just gave me the oportunity to buy an authenticator...
    I kept holding it off...

    Now's the right time I guess...
  1. Kesia's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dadou131988 View Post
    It's true, a lot of adults in Europe don't have credit cards...
    They have *debit* cards...

    Not the same thing...
    It's plastic though lol...

    When you're buying something online, your debit card can be used just like a credit card.
  1. dadou131988's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kesia View Post
    When you're buying something online, your debit card can be used just like a credit card.
    Depends on the debit card...
  1. Zaerix's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dotSeed View Post
    If your account has been compromised you should be emailing/phoning Blizzard's support, not posting about it and hoping someone from Blizzard sees. (Unless you're talking about support from people, in which case I'm sure there are stickies repeating the same things people fail to do to keep their accounts secure.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Drudatz View Post
    a) even if you get hacked while having an auth attached to your account the stealer cant detach it without having access to your stuff to proove he is you and so cant put another auth on.
    b) the forums are not there to qq about being hacked...
    I was hacked before and had an authenticator put on. What would have taken hours by calling tech support (Yes I did, for 5 hours and I never got through) I solved in a much shorter time by giving up on calling, going on the forums, and doing what they have a thread suggesting you do: Make/post in a thread about getting an unauthorized authenticator removed. I got an email stating it was removed and prompting me to change my password about an hour later.

    Sure, people with problems like these are probably in the majority but I was just proving a point that the forums do help with this situation, plus all that is necessary is saying something like "An authenticator was put on my account without my permission." so any "QQing" that may occur depends on the person.

    Also, I'm all for putting an authenticator in the retail box. Seeing as they're Blizzard, they can probably spare the slight profit loss from the extra authenticator being free with the game. (They can't cost that much to make, based on the cost of them in the Blizzard store)

    On topic: I'm happy with most of the paladin changes, though I'm not so sure with turning Divine Protection into Shield Block rather than Shield Wall. I don't see why they don't turn Holy Shield into Shield Block, since they're playing around with it so much. I'm also really happy they removed the daze from Avenger's Shield, since it seemed to do exactly what they said. The silence part of the shield was good for pulling in casters, but the daze part made it so they only moved about 2 feet before the silence faded and they started casting again. Lastly, the fact that the Judgements of the Wise mana restore ticks faster just relieved my mana concerns for Ret, but still not for Prot.
  1. Kesia's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by dadou131988 View Post
    Depends on the debit card...
    Really? I thought if it had 16 numbers and an expiration date it could be used to buy things lol.
  1. Dawn Falcon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rifee View Post
    I'm having a hard time believing that someone in a european country that has both internett, and computer and world of warcraft, as well as being an ADULT don't have a credit card. I personally don't know anyone above 18 who doesn't have one. Unless their country is 40 years behind : /
    Credit cards market penetration is highly country-dependent, I'm afraid you're guilty of making assumptions. For example, mobile-phone based billing is very popular in several (specifically Nordic, but rapidly spreading East) European countries, rather than credit cards and WAP/i-mode is important in Japan as well. Germany has ELV and gyropay as popular options (and a mere 4 million issued credit cards!).

    dadou131988 - Again, debit cards being accepted issued as VISA/Mastercard is far from universal - In the UK Solo (which is being phased out, but will still be around for a few years yet) and Electron can't, for example. Then there's Laser in Ireland, Carte Bleue Nationale in France (you have to pay extra for VISA/Mastercard, and a lot of people don't), etc. etc.


    Sure, in the Middle East and America, you can assume most gamers have access to a VISA or Mastercard-branded card. But in Europe and Asia, this is simply a bad assumption. The very least Blizzard could do is accepting Paypal and more debit card types!
  1. Bladesinger's Avatar
    Everyone's talking about stream lol, how about a 2 thumbs up for those amazing cataclysm zone videos. Just perfect. Even loved the soundtrack.Thx Muffins
  1. dadou131988's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kesia View Post
    Really? I thought if it had 16 numbers and an expiration date it could be used to buy things lol.
    Nah, has to also be Visa/MasterCard/eCard/Carte Bleue/etc...
    Plus it also depends on the website you are buying from...
  1. Widor's Avatar
    Hahaha
    dont ask me why,
    but when i was watching the movie at 7:50 minutes
    i really made me think of that mechanical margikarp from Pokemon's Team Rocket
  1. Doomeye's Avatar
    Im serious.. blizz just doesnt think things thru.. alot of mobile phones dont suport the mobile autenticator... Also if ur acount gets hacked i for example (from romania) a country that doesnt have blizz suport... can just kiss my acount goodbye... If i cant post on forums... im lost. I for example have a Nokia n97 which doesnt suport the autenticator... My wife has a nokia 5800 hers doesn`t suport it aswell.. immo make it work for all phones then come with a requirment like this one... its realy not right to treat a part of their customers like this... + how the hell will i acces from work ? if i have no autenticator...? buy a real one just to Post from work .. seems stupid.
  1. carlos5577's Avatar
    people usually hack the stream and put it in the internet
  1. mmoca2db06e069's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Stormkiller View Post
    The numbers are pulled from the sky btw, just to make a point.
    thus meaning your point is probably inaccurate, fact is you dont know how it works yet, you dont know if all the decitions will be as clean cut as your making it out to be. They mentioned youll have to take one mandetory talent for example tanking, that might only be a 3 point talent, so what makes you think they meant the majority of the talents. With the example they gave would suggest 3 - 5 being mandetory and the 28 - 26 left over being your own decition.

    I could be wrong, but thats my point noone knows. so sop jumping to conclutions. this is the beta, things will and have changed.
  1. Bogrim's Avatar
    I don't get these official forum changes. First the real ID, now the liability for players with an authenticator. I'm not complaining about having to type 6 random numbers to log-in to the forum, but the need to have your authenticator with you in order to post on the forum, even if you're not at home and just posting on a different computer to pass time.
  1. mmoc83df313720's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Maerad View Post
    Blizzard should just fuck off with that authenticator. I try to order one for a long time now and guess what - not possible WITHOUT a credic card. Maybe upgrading their shop would be a nice idea ...
    I'm not sure why all the rage. The blue post just said "players who utilize authenticators on their account will now be asked to enter it upon their first time logging into the forums". So, it only applies IF you already use an authenticator. They are not making it mandatory (yet).

    As far as I know you can get a free app for at least the iPhone if not lots of other smartphones by now to act as an authenticator direct from Blizzard.

    There are plenty of real world stores to buy pre-paid credit cards in the UK or you could register for a virtual credit card online with the big credit card companies and pay however you want (its free).
  1. Cluck's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by carlos5577 View Post
    people usually hack the stream and put it in the internet
    Actually they mostly go for the simpler solution of streaming a stream of the stream while they themselves are watching it.
  1. Alraml's Avatar
    Typical blue post:

    Paladin
    Paladin
    Paladin
    Paladin
    Paladin
  1. Maerad's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Will View Post
    get parents to buy it maybe? or perhaps they sell them at your local game shop?
    Or do you have a smartphone that's on their mobile authenticator compatibility list?
    Hmmmm ... looks like I have to explain some things here.

    First of all I'm 28 years, a parent myself with two kids and I'm from germany.

    Usually we don't use credit cards here - only around 20% of all ppl actually have a credit card. Here, or better said in europe you got a debit card - similar working - you can choose a "credit ammount" you can use (something like 1000€ more then you actually have) BUT the ammont will be booked almost instantly off your account. Not like a credit card and the monthly charge. And if the limits gone .. well ..

    Credit cards are not to common here, because you can't pay at the most "everyday" stores with them, they charge you a nice monthly usage fee and the additional charge for transaction kicks in too. Ok, some banks offer you a free card or something like this, but then you have some other restrictions. We just don't need a credit card here. If I want to buy something online I use my direct debit, pay upfront, use paypal or - like I pay the wow fee - I just do it over the phone bill.

    The App won't work too, because I don't have a comp. mobile / cell phone / handy. An option would be a usual store, but actually they can't buy / get an auth from blizzard, I already tried that.

    It would be the best I could use the same payment options in the store like I do when I pay my woe fee. And no, I don't want to get a CC here, because you have to fill out a fuckload of stuff for it and they want to know where you work, how much you get etc. pp.

    Btw. sorry for my bad english

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