Website Design, Race Intro Cinematics, Blue Posts

New Website Design - Feedback Needed!
My lovely new tech team is working on a new design for the site and I figured it could be nice to ask for your opinion while things are still in development. There is a dedicated post on the Suggestions & Feedback forum where you can give your opinion and complain about the annoying things before it goes live.



Important
  • No, we're not reducing the amount of news posts on the front page to 2, it will remain the same old super-long front page.
  • I'm mostly looking for people who have good idea on how to improve things, if you really hate something try to elaborate and offer ways to do things better. (Please post in the Feedback Thread)
  • It's a 1680x1050 screenshot because this is the most used resolution on the website, it should work fine on lower res.



WoWTal.com Updated to Build 12857
Had a few hiccups with the latest build because of the server migration but the cataclysm talent calculator is now updated to the latest beta build.



New Race Introduction Cinematics
TotalBiscuit compiled all the new introduction cinematics added to the game in the latest beta build. All races character creation cinematics have been updated to reflect all the recent changes to the lore, including upcoming changes, and you might want to check them out.

Disclaimer: There are a couple of major spoilers there





Cataclysm Glyphs
Originally Posted by Ghostcrawler (Blue Tracker)
Prime glyphs aren't going to be exciting in a "change up your rotation" style. We want primes to be unambiguous dps (etc.) increases so we figured they might as well be easy to understand rather than something so convoluted that everyone would just go to a fansite to see which 3 to pick.

The majors are more interesting, because they are either not dps increases at all, or dps increases in ways that are tricky to math out. We think players will debate and geek out more about which majors to use, and with the new glyph design, swapping them out once in awhile isn't very painful.

Minors are basically convenience or fun.

We don't want glyphs to change rotations. We feel that was a mistake in LK. Talents should affect your rotations, and glyphs should just provide a little bit of customization and power. We fixed some class problems with glyphs in LK, which was an easy solution to do at the time, but now is the time to undo all of that and let the classes stand on their own without the glyphs.

I'm not sure I agree with this. I can understand wanting to keep it simple, but like someone else said, if you're going to have 3 glyphs that we're always going to have with no variation, and none of them have any effect on the rotation... couldn't we just stick with minor/major glyphs, and just remove the prime glyphs entirely?

First, it would be a weird world in which a warrior say could glyph Charge and Battle Shout but not Mortal Strike. It might make sense to savvy players who thought through it, but I'd wager you'd also see a lot of "Why don't they make glyphs that affect the buttons I care most about? Blizzard is dumb." (And to be clear, the point of that is not to defend ourselves against agitated forum posters, but that if something in the game is confusing like that in can get in the way of having fun.)

Second, gaining power when you level up is fun. Hitting a milestone where you get a noticeable damage bonus is fun. There is also some mildly interesting decisions about which prime glyph to use first. In other words, don't view everything through the lens of the maximum level player.

Third, not everything in the game needs to be a nail-biting decision. We don't for example really want Fury warriors to stress about whether to choose Raging Blow or not, nor we do we make it particularly challenging to choose your weapon enchant. Sometimes easy decisions make players feel more comfortable rather than every potential decision having a host of invisible pitfalls. This isn't an issue of catering to the dumb players -- it's more about there being a few safe places in the game. [I feel nearly certain after re-reading that paragraph that it's going to be hard to understand and I will end up having to clarify it for months to come.]

Finally, I'd argue that the popular glyphs on live today already were the no brainers because in most cases they led to a consistent dps increase (for dps specs of course). When everyone uses those glyphs, then you aren't making some interesting decision about how to use your abilities -- you're just doing what every other warrior out there is doing. The only way to deviate from that is to have two glyphs that affect your primary abilities in two totally different but equal ways. That's a very tall order, because more than likely we'll end up having to constantly adjust around that. "Encounter #4 in Grim Batol is unfair to warriors who use the Glyph of Furious Mortal Strikes instead of the Glyph of Meaty Mortal Strikes." What I mean is that we end up having to support multiple play styles within one tree. We're willing to do that to a limited extent (the TG vs. SMF Fury warrior for example, or the FFB mage), but it's hard enough to develop 1-2 viable rotations per spec. We don't want every important glyph bifurcating that rotation even more.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Your ICC gear is going away in Uldum (LVL 84-85)
What gear? Uldum has zero quest rewards and the creatures are not itemized. When Uldum is itemized every single quest should offer you an upgrade, regardless of what gear you have from ICC+. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Paladin Glyphs
That Avenging Wrath glyph no longer exists. It's far too obvious a dps increase to be a major under the new paradigm.

The Seal of Truth one is on the bubble. It's still in for now, but it's pretty much a no-brainer given the stat savings it offers. (Source)

Selfless Healer
We're fine with Selfless Healer. It's not going anywhere. We are slightly sympathetic to the concern that the opportunity cost is too high given that you're giving up a Templar's Verdict and that's the kind of thing we might mess with. However, if the idea of having a talent focused solely on healing (and not self preservation) offends you, then skip the talent. It's intended to be optional. There are paladins out there who like the concept of being able to help out healing in a 5-player dungeon or like being able to save lives once in awhile, and the talent is aimed at them. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / 3.3.5 Talent Calculator / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Warrior Glyphs
Some of those glyphs don't look correct. Colossus Smash is a major. Hamstring doesn't do that anymore. Shield Wall provides 60% damage reduction but on a longer cooldown. That's just off the top of my head. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Website Design, Race Intro Cinematics, Blue Posts started by Boubouille View original post
Published on 2010-09-03 06:49 AM
132 Comments
Comments 132 Comments
  1. mordras's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xebu View Post
    The intros are clearly unfinished though. Missing statues in Stormwind, jumpy scene jumps in Ironforge, Choppy camera movements in Gnomer.... but they are looking good!
    The intros are using the in-game engine. So any choppiness you saw in the intros were due to the system they were rendered on. I noticed mountains in TB that appeared a few seconds after it started. That is not surprising. Some of the statues missing in Stormwind might but intentional Cataclysm changes but I can't say for certain as I am not in the Beta.
  1. Oathmaker's Avatar
    Have the MMO-Champion guy stab the curse logo. That's good enough for all of us, I would believe.
  1. TotalBiscuit's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mordras View Post
    The intros are using the in-game engine. So any choppiness you saw in the intros were due to the system they were rendered on. I noticed mountains in TB that appeared a few seconds after it started. That is not surprising. Some of the statues missing in Stormwind might but intentional Cataclysm changes but I can't say for certain as I am not in the Beta.
    This is more to do with the fact that the game is streaming content for some reason. The framerate was fine, a solid 30 the entire time during recording, the actual movement was somewhat jerky due to engine issues. That will not happen in the final version since you shouldn't be streaming that content, it should all be downloaded
  1. Linkiss's Avatar
    Cool design, good thing i dont see the adds
  1. mmoc54fa1617a5's Avatar
    I miss the soldier pic next to the "Mmo-Champion" logo
  1. Thooms's Avatar
    May I ask why everything is in Latin on that screenshot?
  1. Nathiest's Avatar
    Did they remove the epically cool sautes in Stormwind? Where's the Goblin intro?

    ---------- Post added 2010-09-03 at 03:12 PM ----------

    New design? It's cleaner, much cleaner.
  1. Antiseptic's Avatar
    Boub, I do not know why you continue to insist upon removing what makes mmo-champion what it is (see avatar) but besides that it is nice. Will be pretty hard to see my little mmo-champion dude actually gone and myself being excited about checking this site more than once a day.. or a few times a week.
  1. cTron417's Avatar
    I agree with these comments. Really nice new style but it needs the MMO-Champ character on top.
  1. Wiimage's Avatar
    I liek it.
  1. Bidelle's Avatar
    Very sexy new redesign. Gunna miss the little Champion though if he gets removed!
  1. Mokona's Avatar
    Add the mmo-champion guy and change the background. The green color is nice though you may want to use brighter ones. Add a more visibile pattern because it looks somewhat bland, dull.. whatever. It might already be enough to simply make the squares more visible, though you might want to think about using a new pattern altogether. Something that stands out more. Can't link pictures to show what I mean.

    Hell, you could even use the background you use now.
  1. Giigamesh's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tayla View Post
    i really really like it, i just miss the mmo-c dude. He's cool.
    lol.
    i thought she was a chick D:

    looks like a "breast"plate to me... >.<
  1. Cronnix's Avatar
    What they basically did, is to remove the extra hit/dps talents and make them into prime glyphs?.. lol..
  1. Thessalor's Avatar
    Hmm. Boub posted a new site design. I am going to see how good it is.

    ...

    HOLY MOTHER FU-
  1. quiz's Avatar
    Nice design but little green would be better (like now).
  1. Cablecow's Avatar
    ugh , everything on the front page now i find out 3 days ahead of time ...
  1. Fortuitous's Avatar
    Replace ICC gear in Uldum? Only if you are blind to stats. There are items in Hyjal, Vashj'ir, and Deepholm that are clear upgrades from ICC items. If you refuse to upgrade your pieces simply due to the effort you put into raiding to acquire them, you are only gimping yourself in the end.
  1. Cornicer's Avatar
    Not sure I'm really grokking the Prime Glyphs from a design stand-point.... kinda seems odd to be pushing such a passive form of upgrades when they've just spent the last several months in beta doing the exact opposite with talents because they found them dull. Maybe it'll make more sense in context.

    As for the new site, I like it. It manages to be familiar while at the same time changing what needs to be changed. I can take or leave the warrior guy at the top; TBH, I ignored this site for the first few months of playing WoW because I saw that, and assumed the site was some sort of anime/MMO site(lol, you know what happens when you assume....).
  1. Tang's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fortuitous View Post
    Replace ICC gear in Uldum? Only if you are blind to stats. There are items in Hyjal, Vashj'ir, and Deepholm that are clear upgrades from ICC items. If you refuse to upgrade your pieces simply due to the effort you put into raiding to acquire them, you are only gimping yourself in the end.
    Of course when you consider that those items that you put so much effort into obtaining make you "gimp" only a few levels later, it does make you question why you put so much effort into obtaining them in the first place. In TBC and Wrath, if you had the best raid gear, you didn't replace a lot of it until at the very least, max level dungeons and/or the "starter" raid. With Cata it's like you're not even allowed to enjoy it that long. They should tone down the quest gear and tone down the mobs. If people who have full ICC gear can blow through the questing pretty easily, who cares? clearly those players are the type who will stick around for the raids, so what's the big loss?

    ---------- Post added 2010-09-03 at 04:55 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Cornicer View Post
    Not sure I'm really grokking the Prime Glyphs from a design stand-point.... kinda seems odd to be pushing such a passive form of upgrades when they've just spent the last several months in beta doing the exact opposite with talents because they found them dull. Maybe it'll make more sense in context.
    .
    What I find interesting is the "We're okay with it not being much of a choice, just like with weapon enchants." Didn't they straight up remove the +stamina weapon enchant that was supposed to be in patch 3.1 because they decided it would just become the default/required tanking enchant, rather than providing a real choice? For DPS casters they finally got Black Magic to a point where it was a reasonable choice in place of raw spell power, got a number of viable melee DPS enchants... and now that they know how to do it their philosophy is "It doesn't matter, just use the default weapon enchant" ?

    P.S.-- I know Adys doesn't care for my "tone," and maybe it's just a Chrome thing, but I get constant pop ups in the middle of my screen. Take a survey, take another damn survey, etc. It's not a "bad ad" it's a new way of advertising that is normally reserved for low class porn sites and never happened before today.
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