Build of the Month
Recent Blue Posts
Limited PvP -> PvE Free Character Transfers
The Cataclysm Classic Pre-Expansion Patch Arrives April 30
Recent Forum Posts
Season 4... Just old dungeons and new ilvl?
[WeakAura] Tombstone's Conditions
Did Blizzard just hotfix an ilvl requirement onto Awakened LFR?
Grenade Demon Hunter Budget Guide, Demon Hunter Cosplay, Curse Weekly RoundupPatch 5.1 BMAH Additions
Patch 5.1 added three new items to the BMAH. The first is a weapon with a fairly unique model, the Sun-Lute of the Phoenix King! The on use effect turns you in to Sig Nicious.
It has a reported starting bid of 70k, the same as the Arcanite Ripper. You can find a full list of the items on the BMAH here.
The other two items are old Proto-Drakes. The first is the Reins of the Plagued Proto-Drake, which was a reward of Glory of the Raider (10 player). The other is the Reins of the Rusted Proto-Drake, a reward of Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10 player).
Madness of Deathwing 10 Solo Kill
Congratulations to Mionelol for another impressive solo kill.
Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
On a related note: Do you still feel that number changes are preferable over mechanical changes for all specs during an XP?
Ya. More players quit because of constant class changes than quit because of balance concerns. Hard to believe maybe but true. (Source)
But GC in all fairness we have other classes standing up for us, its not us shamans vs the world
Also "my warrior alt agrees with my shaman main." See the problem? That's not the same as an actual discussion with back and forth from both sides. Players never agree 100% with anything. (Source)
Yo GC, try and show some respect to your playerbase /cast Busshock
I respect our players a great deal or I wouldn't make such an effort to do this. That does not mean game design is up for a vote. (Source)
Why the huge nerf to glyphs in MoP? They seem, well, underwhelming. #wow
They were a DPS increase before, but not an interesting one. Most players picked the highest DPS glyph and never changed them. (Source)
Do you think abilities such as Destro Rain of Fire or Halo should break Rogue's stealth? And if so why? It's too easy to break
I would love to see only Flare and a few others break stealth, but that's a potentially destabilizing change. (Source)
Have you ever considered changing a spec from a pure dps class to a tank/heal spec?
yes, but I don't think every one of those pure players would like that (& you can't just say they can ignore the new roles). (Source)
With druids now having 4 specs to choose from, wouldn't it be possible to add them¬ remove any specific spec?
Druids have always been hybrids though. Maybe a rogue doesn't want to have to be considered a tank. (Source)
I dont think most people would have to consider it. I assume if your in a raid you have a designated tank.
Not that simple. If you have a tank as a class might be less room for DPS of same class. Also has gear, DPS, dual spec implications. (Source)
some classes/specs does not bring anything useful generally, hunters rogues come to mind these problems -continued
We don't like balancing around awesome raid utility - just shifts the problem to who has strongest utility. (Source)
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
¨What do you think of DK survival in pvp? I quit mine because I realized in premop patch that we were going to be easy target
If you can get a DK to blow all def cooldowns, then they're easier to kill, but you still have Blood Presence. (Source)
Why is Blood getting nerfed PvP wise? We have no mobility what so ever.. we are easily kited.WTF. Compensate for the nerf?
We don't like invulnerable tanks in PvP even if they are slow. Blood had too much self-healing in PvP. (Source)
Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
I'm not sure why you just don't throw a 1 min CD on Healing Shrooms and scale them properly and be done with it at this point.
that might get druids to use them, but that makes them like a lot of other spells and the game needs more variety not less. (Source)
why not have mushroom healing to be increased based on a proc you receive by using another spell, like regrowth, etc
potentially. Want to be a little careful not to add too many RNG procs though. (Source)
How long are we going to have to wait to see shifting out of snares removed?
Not on our radar ATM. We don't want to nerf every counter in PvP, just the ones that feel super frustrating. (Source)
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Is there a possible warlock-style redesign for hunters in future? New talents seem to cause button bloat and spread dps thin.
We don't think hunters need a massive revamp (beyond range and ammo changes they already have). They do have too many buttons. (Source)
Regarding hunters, why is BW, a skill untouched for years suddenly OP? Also 5.1 changes nothing regarding MM being weak in pvp
We don't think defenses used offensively makes good gameplay. They tend to get blown immediately not strategically. (Source)
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Any chance Mages could get rune of power castable on the move?
Don't want it to be a buff you just hit on cooldown. Agree it needs a little work. (Source)
Any word on IW or Invocation?
Invocation works for Arcane, but feels too maintenancy for others. IW is a bigger topic. (Source)
Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Hey GC with the change in 5.1 making totems act as spells was it intended to nerf all specs or just resto ?
it was intended as a nerf to totems. Now that they do things (not just buffs) they were hard to counter. (Source)
Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
How's the banner experiment working out? Have you guys contemplated any other cool banner style abilities for warriors?
honestly, not sure yet. Still like the concept. Not sure if it's delivering on the fantasy. (Source)
PvP
When you or one of the blizzard staff mentioned the 30% healing nerf in Battlegrounds, I hope you mean hybrids only.
Nope. We suspect healing overall is too potent once burst is toned down. You shouldn't need to 100% CC a healer to score a kill. (Source)
Make PvP abilities a mod to PvE abilities = PvP changes isolated. Add PvP Stance for equipment/glyphs, fallback to PvE gear.
We make abilities work differently as a later sort, but I for one don't want to have to earn two different rule sets. (Source)
greg making two rule sets is the only way to fix the PVE vs PVP issue. have you not learned that yet?
Disagree. Also even if true, perfect balance gains us nothing if a bunch of players leave because the rules are inscrutable. (Source)
A flightless Tol Barad-type zone is essential for world pvp. Do you regret not making one for MoP or plan to make one?
We had done those zones 2 expansions in a row so felt it was time to let it rest a bit, but I bet we try them again in the future. (Source)
Why are the PvP achievements so limited? No 2,4k in 2v2. No 1k arenas won? 5k arenas won? Hot Hot Hot streak? #possibilities
We'd like to add more but we need to make sure they don't encourage strange behavior. Ach farming in PvP can get silly fast. (Source)
I believe an open mind is more important than a title, experience after that. Sadly, even glads can be very biased.
People who like to eat don't always make good cooks. That doesn't mean they can't tell you what they like to eat. (Source)
Do you take advice from a master chef or some guy who just happens to enjoy food?
Both. (Source)
So why nerf all specs? Reducing the benefit of mastery in PvP would fix resto, but ele isn't even viable pre-nerfs.
We don't think it's all about the healing, and Resto PvE healing is fine. We think totems are too good. (Source)
people will stop complaining about resto pvp nerfs if you nerf frost bomb/ warrior cd stacking/ resto drood control
There are mage and warrior nerfs in 5.1. Keeping an eye on Cyclone for now. (Source)
I'm not giving up on skirmish arenas, never, ever. You know we want it. inb4 block :<
We aren't either - it's just not going to be super soon. (Source)
Everyone agrees with him/her. This upgrade gear thing is going to make people quit the game. PvP is dying.
claiming to speak for everyone always makes me suspicious. (Source)
well, not everyone but the majority i think. btw, i would love to have that pvp forum on the US.
just make good arguments and don't worry about invoking a huge crowd to agree with you. It's not a vote anyway. (Source)
Misc
MoP was meant to get people out in the world, PvP was supposed to be king this xpac. Why nerf guild perk Quick and the Dead?
dying is supposed to have some penalty. Since you have unlimited lives, downtime is the main one. (Source)
You ruined the joke just like you ruined Age of Empires and WoW...
Changes no one asked for - Rpg home city. Homogenic empires and Clunky/Bad combat. Quite similar to WoW now
.you don't get good games by just giving people what they ask for. Game design isn't just polling. (Source)
Look at League of Legends Mr. Street, I'm sure it'd love to beg to differ.
we're friends with all those guys. Pretty sure they don't turn over design to their community either. (Source)
What happened to balance/bug fix patches (eg 4.0.6)? It's frustrating to wait for next content patch to see much desired fixes
We don't characterize patches that way. There are big patches (new raid tier / PvP season) and smaller ones. 5.1 is the latter. (Source)
But there is something to be said about testing your games.
we do test our games. We have a huge QA department and we invite players to try out betas and PTRs. (Source)
just curious... do you collaborate w/ the other blizzard games, or does everyone stay in their own game areas?
We collaborate a fair amount. Great to get outside opinions and see how others solve problems. Several temp or perma moves too. (Source)
Regarding items that aren't intended to ever go into the game (i.e. heroic raid trash), why are they made? Just curious.
if we change loot tables late, then we already have the items ready. (Source)
... what to listen to, consciuously or not. You reap the results of that (horrible PVP, constant whines).
I read the role and PvP forums regularly. Feedback is always valuable. It just doesn't always result in immediate change. (Source)
You need to listen to the people who play this game even more than the ones who created it.
We do listen to them. We just don't let them order up game changes on their own. That would be interesting though. (Source)
Is there anywhere we can beg an audience with The GC with a longer character limit?
I'd love to in a theoretical sense, but there are too many of you and one of me. (Source)
On a related note: Do you still feel that number changes are preferable over mechanical changes for all specs during an XP?
Ya. More players quit because of constant class changes than quit because of balance concerns. Hard to believe maybe but true. (Source)
But GC in all fairness we have other classes standing up for us, its not us shamans vs the world
Also "my warrior alt agrees with my shaman main." See the problem? That's not the same as an actual discussion with back and forth from both sides. Players never agree 100% with anything. (Source)
Yo GC, try and show some respect to your playerbase /cast Busshock
I respect our players a great deal or I wouldn't make such an effort to do this. That does not mean game design is up for a vote. (Source)
Why the huge nerf to glyphs in MoP? They seem, well, underwhelming. #wow
They were a DPS increase before, but not an interesting one. Most players picked the highest DPS glyph and never changed them. (Source)
Do you think abilities such as Destro Rain of Fire or Halo should break Rogue's stealth? And if so why? It's too easy to break
I would love to see only Flare and a few others break stealth, but that's a potentially destabilizing change. (Source)
Have you ever considered changing a spec from a pure dps class to a tank/heal spec?
yes, but I don't think every one of those pure players would like that (& you can't just say they can ignore the new roles). (Source)
With druids now having 4 specs to choose from, wouldn't it be possible to add them¬ remove any specific spec?
Druids have always been hybrids though. Maybe a rogue doesn't want to have to be considered a tank. (Source)
I dont think most people would have to consider it. I assume if your in a raid you have a designated tank.
Not that simple. If you have a tank as a class might be less room for DPS of same class. Also has gear, DPS, dual spec implications. (Source)
some classes/specs does not bring anything useful generally, hunters rogues come to mind these problems -continued
We don't like balancing around awesome raid utility - just shifts the problem to who has strongest utility. (Source)
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)¨What do you think of DK survival in pvp? I quit mine because I realized in premop patch that we were going to be easy target
If you can get a DK to blow all def cooldowns, then they're easier to kill, but you still have Blood Presence. (Source)
Why is Blood getting nerfed PvP wise? We have no mobility what so ever.. we are easily kited.WTF. Compensate for the nerf?
We don't like invulnerable tanks in PvP even if they are slow. Blood had too much self-healing in PvP. (Source)
Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)I'm not sure why you just don't throw a 1 min CD on Healing Shrooms and scale them properly and be done with it at this point.
that might get druids to use them, but that makes them like a lot of other spells and the game needs more variety not less. (Source)
why not have mushroom healing to be increased based on a proc you receive by using another spell, like regrowth, etc
potentially. Want to be a little careful not to add too many RNG procs though. (Source)
How long are we going to have to wait to see shifting out of snares removed?
Not on our radar ATM. We don't want to nerf every counter in PvP, just the ones that feel super frustrating. (Source)
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Is there a possible warlock-style redesign for hunters in future? New talents seem to cause button bloat and spread dps thin.
We don't think hunters need a massive revamp (beyond range and ammo changes they already have). They do have too many buttons. (Source)
Regarding hunters, why is BW, a skill untouched for years suddenly OP? Also 5.1 changes nothing regarding MM being weak in pvp
We don't think defenses used offensively makes good gameplay. They tend to get blown immediately not strategically. (Source)
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Any chance Mages could get rune of power castable on the move?
Don't want it to be a buff you just hit on cooldown. Agree it needs a little work. (Source)
Any word on IW or Invocation?
Invocation works for Arcane, but feels too maintenancy for others. IW is a bigger topic. (Source)
Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Hey GC with the change in 5.1 making totems act as spells was it intended to nerf all specs or just resto ?
it was intended as a nerf to totems. Now that they do things (not just buffs) they were hard to counter. (Source)
Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)How's the banner experiment working out? Have you guys contemplated any other cool banner style abilities for warriors?
honestly, not sure yet. Still like the concept. Not sure if it's delivering on the fantasy. (Source)
PvP
When you or one of the blizzard staff mentioned the 30% healing nerf in Battlegrounds, I hope you mean hybrids only.
Nope. We suspect healing overall is too potent once burst is toned down. You shouldn't need to 100% CC a healer to score a kill. (Source)
Make PvP abilities a mod to PvE abilities = PvP changes isolated. Add PvP Stance for equipment/glyphs, fallback to PvE gear.
We make abilities work differently as a later sort, but I for one don't want to have to earn two different rule sets. (Source)
greg making two rule sets is the only way to fix the PVE vs PVP issue. have you not learned that yet?
Disagree. Also even if true, perfect balance gains us nothing if a bunch of players leave because the rules are inscrutable. (Source)
A flightless Tol Barad-type zone is essential for world pvp. Do you regret not making one for MoP or plan to make one?
We had done those zones 2 expansions in a row so felt it was time to let it rest a bit, but I bet we try them again in the future. (Source)
Why are the PvP achievements so limited? No 2,4k in 2v2. No 1k arenas won? 5k arenas won? Hot Hot Hot streak? #possibilities
We'd like to add more but we need to make sure they don't encourage strange behavior. Ach farming in PvP can get silly fast. (Source)
I believe an open mind is more important than a title, experience after that. Sadly, even glads can be very biased.
People who like to eat don't always make good cooks. That doesn't mean they can't tell you what they like to eat. (Source)
Do you take advice from a master chef or some guy who just happens to enjoy food?
Both. (Source)
So why nerf all specs? Reducing the benefit of mastery in PvP would fix resto, but ele isn't even viable pre-nerfs.
We don't think it's all about the healing, and Resto PvE healing is fine. We think totems are too good. (Source)
people will stop complaining about resto pvp nerfs if you nerf frost bomb/ warrior cd stacking/ resto drood control
There are mage and warrior nerfs in 5.1. Keeping an eye on Cyclone for now. (Source)
I'm not giving up on skirmish arenas, never, ever. You know we want it. inb4 block :<
We aren't either - it's just not going to be super soon. (Source)
Everyone agrees with him/her. This upgrade gear thing is going to make people quit the game. PvP is dying.
claiming to speak for everyone always makes me suspicious. (Source)
well, not everyone but the majority i think. btw, i would love to have that pvp forum on the US.
just make good arguments and don't worry about invoking a huge crowd to agree with you. It's not a vote anyway. (Source)
Misc
MoP was meant to get people out in the world, PvP was supposed to be king this xpac. Why nerf guild perk Quick and the Dead?
dying is supposed to have some penalty. Since you have unlimited lives, downtime is the main one. (Source)
You ruined the joke just like you ruined Age of Empires and WoW...
Changes no one asked for - Rpg home city. Homogenic empires and Clunky/Bad combat. Quite similar to WoW now
.you don't get good games by just giving people what they ask for. Game design isn't just polling. (Source)
Look at League of Legends Mr. Street, I'm sure it'd love to beg to differ.
we're friends with all those guys. Pretty sure they don't turn over design to their community either. (Source)
What happened to balance/bug fix patches (eg 4.0.6)? It's frustrating to wait for next content patch to see much desired fixes
We don't characterize patches that way. There are big patches (new raid tier / PvP season) and smaller ones. 5.1 is the latter. (Source)
But there is something to be said about testing your games.
we do test our games. We have a huge QA department and we invite players to try out betas and PTRs. (Source)
just curious... do you collaborate w/ the other blizzard games, or does everyone stay in their own game areas?
We collaborate a fair amount. Great to get outside opinions and see how others solve problems. Several temp or perma moves too. (Source)
Regarding items that aren't intended to ever go into the game (i.e. heroic raid trash), why are they made? Just curious.
if we change loot tables late, then we already have the items ready. (Source)
... what to listen to, consciuously or not. You reap the results of that (horrible PVP, constant whines).
I read the role and PvP forums regularly. Feedback is always valuable. It just doesn't always result in immediate change. (Source)
You need to listen to the people who play this game even more than the ones who created it.
We do listen to them. We just don't let them order up game changes on their own. That would be interesting though. (Source)
Is there anywhere we can beg an audience with The GC with a longer character limit?
I'd love to in a theoretical sense, but there are too many of you and one of me. (Source)
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
This month
The current SSD prices seem to have bottomed out for now, with almost all SSDs under $1 per gigabyte. A few sales have even gone under 50 cents per gigabyte, so look for something on sale! No new CPUs, GPUs, or SSDs worth waiting for are expected before late in the first or the second quarter next year.
Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or something that is similarly multithreaded, you do not need the 3770K and should spend that money elsewhere.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! If you are interested in Folding@home, take a look in our team's thread.
Peripherals/Monitors
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor | Acer V223W EJBD 22-Inch Widescreen - $140 | ASUS VW246H 24-Inch Widescreen - $188 |
| Keyboard | Logitech Media Keyboard K200 - $20 | Cyborg V.5 - $51 |
| Mouse | Logitech G400 - $30 | Razer Deathadder - $45 |
| Speakers | Creative A220 2.1 Speaker System - $27 | Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $40 |
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
| Monitor | ASUS VE278Q 27-Inch - $280 | HP ZR2440W 24-inch (IPS Panel) - $364 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G110 - $60 | Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $70 ($137) |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 - $45 | Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $60 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z323 2.1 Speaker System - $60 | Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $80 |
Puppy and Dolphin
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Pick one of the two CPU/Motherboard combos.
Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Pick one of the two CPU/Motherboard combos.
Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Case | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $35 | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $35 |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX500 - $59 | XFX Core Edition PRO 550W - $66 |
| CPU | AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition- $90 | Intel i3-3220 - $120 |
| Heatsink | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $25 | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $32 |
| Motherboard | ASUS M5A97 R2 AM3+ 970 - $100 | Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - $117 |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB 1333 - $19 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $40 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 7770 - $109 | MSI 7850 Twin Frozr or Gigabyte GTX 660 OC - $205 / $236 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $60 | Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - $100 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 |
| Total | $539 | $698 - $731 |
Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60 | Cooler Master HAF X - $150 |
| Power Supply | Corsair 650TX V2 - $90 | Corsair 750HX - $148 |
| CPU | Intel i5-3570K - $215 | Intel i7-3770K - $320 |
| Heatsink | Thermaltake Frio - $60 | Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $81 |
| Motherboard | ASUS P8Z77-V LK - $112 | ASUS P8Z77-V - $190 |
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $40 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $40 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 7870 (7950) OR GIGABYTE GTX 660 Ti - $261 ($305) / $280 | Gigabyte 7970 OR GIGABYTE GTX 670 - $400 / $355 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $100 | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $100 |
| SSD | SAMSUNG 840 128GB (Review) - $98 OR OCZ 128 GB Vertex 4 (Review) - $110 | Crucial 128 GB m4 (Review) - $106 OR Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB - $120 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $23 |
| Total | $990 - $1090 | $1406 - $1543 |
Curse Weekly Roundup
This week we have news on a Dignitas player being banned, the Marriland.com relaunch, Wowkemon Addon, Firefall Beta Keys, and your Game Release Forecast for next week.
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