Brawler's Guild Invites, Herb and Ore Reduction, LFR Boss Counter, Blue Posts, IPL5

Mining and Herb spawn rates in Pandaria have been reduced by approximately 50% in patch 5.1, and this is indeed an intended change. These are in addition to the hotfix that was applied in 5.0.5 to lower the spawn rate of Ghost Iron.

In all of these cases, the reduction was prompted because the resources were too abundant, resulting in ore and herbs being undervalued, and also therefore the effort that our herbalists and miners put in to collect each node. We’ll be monitoring the situation, though, and should the current rates prove to be too low then we’ll make further adjustments as necessary.

Right, so with 5.1 the game no longer tells you how many bosses are left for the group you’re being matched with for Raid Finder (LFR).

To explain why we made the change, let’s go back to the problem everyone was experiencing before. Let’s say a fresh LFR group is put together, they get two bosses down, and then wipe a few times on the third and lose 10 people who think they’re too cool for wiping. Now the group is down to 15, waiting for 10 new people, the queue eventually pops for those 10, and most of them see 2/6 and hit cancel. The raid still isn't full, the matchmaker has to go looking again for more people, and meanwhile as time ticks on people from the original run are getting more frustrated. Maybe a few of them leave, and then there’s even more spots to fill. Plenty of times everyone just gives up and the entire run falls apart, all those people are back in the queue, and they’ll be-damned if they join an in-progress run to fall apart again!

These kinds of things happen all of the time, and in the vast majority of situations it’s simply because people don’t like the idea of joining an in-progress run, even if it would have succeeded.

You may think we’re trying to be underhanded, but the reality is we’re trying to help people be more efficient with their play time. What most people don’t realize is that if they get and complete an in-progress run, the next time they queue they will preferentially be placed into a fresh instance. What everyone should be doing, to be the most efficient, is joining and sticking with their runs to completion. If they join an in-progress group they can catch up on those other couple bosses they missed immediately after, and if they have the time, they’d be wise to down the ones they've already killed again for extra Valor.

The patch has only been out a couple days of course, but personally I think there are some people who don’t realize yet how an in-progress run, and that extra Valor, can directly translate to improved items through the new upgrade system. An in-progress run is very likely better bang for the buck to your character power due to item level upgrades than hitting cancel over and over to get a fresh run and then hoping for a boss drop.

There are of course other issues that cause LFR groups to fall apart, like boss difficulty, and those are the kinds of things we’re looking at bigger solutions for. Losing a couple people doesn’t need to mean the whole run is doomed.

Can't people who just joined leave immediately upon seeing that it's not a fresh run and just queue again? I believe if a boss is killed you don't get deserter for leaving so this doesn't fix the issue you're trying to fix really.
There's a deserter debuff given if you don't stay and participate in the raid.

Let's expand your Scenario. I queue as a Healer, I get a group that is on last boss. We kill the boss. However, now I still need the first two bosses. So I queue and zone in, guess what? The groups is on last boss, the one I have already killed. So I drop group as soon as I zone in. Exactly what has this fixed?
Is this a hypothetical situation? If you're solo-queuing you should be getting a fresh instance when queuing again after completing the previous in-progress run. It's not an absolute guarantee, but pretty close to one.

What if you are valor capped for the week? What good does killing bosses again do? Or what if you have limited play time, and would rather queue once and get your LFR done in one go? This change doesn't stop 2/6 queues from showing up. It isn't going to speed up anything. Everyone who would have gotten a 2/6 and skipped it, is now forced to do that 2/6 and then hope the next queue works as intended putting you in for the first boss, and then dropping, creating another 2/6 for someone else. I don't see how that helps at all.
Matching random people together with differing interests, preferences, and goals is always going to mean people will be leaving when they feel they want to for... whatever reasons they deem necessary. If you want to have a group that's organized and sticks together, queuing to be matched with strangers has a higher chance of not offering that experience. What we can do, and will continue to strive for, is lessening the social burdens of being matched with strangers in an unknown situation and reducing some of the behaviors that may cause more degenerative uses of the tool - ideally through positive reinforcement, but that's not always possible.

In any case, I don't think anyone thinks any part of the game is perfect, and so much like everything we do it's going to be an ongoing iterative process. Feedback on what you think we can do to make things smoother for you is always helpful.

As one of the people who requested this change a month ago and is quite pleased with it, I'd like to point out that it's been working in Dungeon Finder for a long time now. Initially I thought nerfing end bosses in LFR was the only solution, to reduce the number of people who leave towards the end. But then it was pointed out to me that Dungeon Finder enjoyed great success simply by hiding the number of dead bosses on the confirmation screen. It's not some radical new change; it's just taking a successful improvement to Dungeon Finder, and extending it to LFR.

I'll add that it'simply selfish to want the freedom to leave raids early, but not also accept the responsibility to sometimes be called upon to finish a half-completed raid. Trying to only benefit and never contribute is cheating the system. It's standard game design not to reward people who try to cheat. Nothing surprising here.
You're awesome.

And you're exactly right, you can't have it both ways. Leave whenever it suits you AND expect there to be fresh raids waiting for you each time. It'd be great if that was possible, but it is an MMO with lots of other real live people playing. Ideally though cooperating to complete a raid is rewarding enough for everyone that it's generally functioning in a way that makes everyone want to cooperate.

I think the domino effect that this will cause will force most everyone to queue 2 times for every raid.
How are you not queuing twice, or more, waiting for a 0/6 run?

Anyway, there are still plenty of runs making it to completion, which means less people joining in-progress runs, and that only increases as people learn the fights and their gear improves.

Patch 5.1 Proc Changes
I believe it's dancing steel not procing twice from dual weapons anymore, it justs reset your proc instead of adding a second.. Unofficial Spell Changes in 5.1....
The change to Dancing Steel is actually part of its status as a Real Proc Per Minute (RPMM) system, which was in the patch notes.

• The Dancing Steel, Jade Spirit, Colossus, and River’s Song enchantments now use the Real PPM system utilized by Windsong and Elemental Force.

You can read more about how RPMM works here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6893549789#1

Dual wielding with a RPMM enchants means that you'll get double the frequency of procs, but the system doesn't currently allow for double active procs.

We're happy with how the RPMM system has turned out, and we think it's a stronger proc system than those we've used in the past, and offers more consistent results for players too. That said, we know that some players find double active procs fun, though, so we're exploring the possibility of altering the system to allow for them in the future.

Now, all of that aside, the original poster's issue was most likely associated with an issue that was hotfixed yesterday:

• Mutilate, Killing Spree, and Fan of Knives once again apply poisons correctly.

Good news, everyone!

As I mentioned, we've been investigating the possibility of altering the Real PPM system to allow double procs. It hadn't been done previously due to technical challenges, but we found a solution much faster than expected, and we're currently working on a hotfix to allow Real PPM enchantments to proc separately per weapon.

Yes, this means that if everything goes smoothly, you'll soon be able to have two simultaneous Dancing Steel procs, or (very rarely) six simultaneous Windsong procs. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Indicator of Grand Commendation Effect
I just went around on my primary 90, buying up all the grand commendation I qualified for. As it stands, I see no indication whatsoever that they're in effect.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll bring the concerns for grand commendations up at the next developer meeting. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Brawler's Guild Rewards
if something is fun, does it always have to shower you with rewards?
This is a relevant question. We want the feature to be cool, flavorful, and prestigious on its own merits. As soon as we start tying awesome rewards to it, all the threads misusing phrases like "forced content" and "shoved down our throats" would start popping up for Brawler's Guild.

There are so many elements of gameplay that unlock pathways to flavor, prestige, and power rewards, to the extent that they're often viewed as mandatory by the experienced player who needs every edge or bit of bragging rights.

LMAO! You guys expect far too much from Blizzard..LMAO!!!!
If you think it's laughable, there would really be no hard feelings on our end if you decided it wasn't worth the time or effort to get in or participate in the guild. It's a niche feature that likely only a small percentage of the playerbase will ever take part in, or come back to regularly to reach higher ranks and much harder fights. Given common player perception about endgame progression and reward structures, I think we could use more minor, niche features like Brawler's Guild and Pet Battles in the game. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blingtron Not Resetting
We're aware of this issue and are actively working on a fix. Thanks for your reports! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Item Tooltips
I am giving it a bit of time before making a decision, it could be just a case of getting use to the new look.
I was under that same impression yesterday. Personally, for me it's still odd to look at my item tooltips and getting everything sorted out, but when I think about it, the new tooltips have all the information they had before, just a different layout.

In any case, please remember that it's going to be more helpful for the developers (and for us) if you try to put your thoughts constructively about why it doesn't work this way rather than a harsh one liner that doesn't have anything but strong words. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

As disabling the red action bars in the new loss of control UI is something that some players would like to do but the option is not currently available in the game, I am blue tagging this thread for visibility.

AddOn:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?rstnhs03hiabt2g

Macro:
/run f=CreateFrame("Frame") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_ADDED") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_UPDATE") f:SetScript("OnEvent",function() for b in pairs(ActionBarActionEventsFrame.frames) do b.cooldown:SetLossOfControlCooldown(0,0) end end)

Script (put the script above in an addon you always run in its main .lua file):
f=CreateFrame("Frame") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_ADDED") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_UPDATE") f:SetScript("OnEvent",function() for b in pairs(ActionBarActionEventsFrame.frames) do b.cooldown:SetLossOfControlCooldown(0,0) end end)