Patch 5.3 Dev Interview, May 21 Hotfixes, Conquest Vendors Disabled, Blue Posts, DLC

Diablo III’s One-Year Anniversary Infographic

Patch 5.3 Dev Interviews
Gamebreaker had a live video interview with Blizzard this week, so here is a recap in case you missed it!

Subscription Numbers
  • Players come back for expansions, and patches help a little bit, but players are always lost over time until the next expansion. Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do.
  • When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up.
  • The devs read fansites and the official forums to get feedback and see what players are thinking, but the players that actually post or even read those sites are the minority.

PvP Changes
  • The PvP gearing changes in Patch 5.2 were meant to address the different tiers of PvE gear by matching them with different tiers of PvP gear. Upgraded items made this a messy and a non optimal solution.
  • Patch 5.2 tried to make some of the less interesting talents more desirable choices, but the changes went a little bit too far and made some classes too good. This will hopefully be corrected by the changes in Patch 5.3.
  • The goals of any class changes are to try and make different classes and specs competitive, then make the gameplay fun, and then make some talents and rotations interesting and fun to play.
  • World PvP outcomes generally depend on how many players of each faction there are in the battle and not the item level of the other faction's gear. The gearing changes in 5.3 aren't likely to cause drastic changes for most world PvP battles.
  • After the gearing changes made in 5.3, Conquest gear should let you start to raid with your friends, and PvE gear should let you start to PvP with your friends.
  • There is no advantage to be gained by queuing as an incorrect role for battlegrounds, as the system has no set number for each role, it just roughly matches the number of healers on both sides. Signing up as a healer when you are not healing won't give you a faster queue, but it will put your team at a disadvantage.
  • Matching players by gear for battlegrounds is a nice idea, but it would be hard for players to tell that it is working. The base resilience change and other changes in 5.3 should help to address large gear disparities.
  • Warsong still has problems with graveyard camping. One potential solution can be seen in Deepwind Gorge, which has two different graveyards, putting you at the one on the opposite side when you die.
  • The best kind of CC has a cast time and is interruptible and the worst kind is instant cast that has no cooldown or stuns.

PvE
  • The original scenarios are too easy now, as they were designed for players with older gear with lower item levels. Heroic scenarios provide more difficulty and better rewards.
  • Throne of Thunder had to be a big and epic raid, which took up a lot of dev time. When the team compromised with Dragon Soul and delivered a raid and five man dungeons in one patch, the raid ended up being a little bit smaller than everyone wanted. The team is growing though, so progress is being made towards being able to do both.
  • The first tier of raids in this expansion had slightly easier content in the 10 player difficulty, which matched the audience who was raiding 10 player difficulty.
  • There aren't many 25 player raiding guilds that only focus on Normal difficulty. These guilds usually try to get through Normal difficulty encounters quickly to move on to Heroic difficulty encounters.
  • There are a lot of 10 player raiding guilds that just focus on Normal content though, which means the players doing 10 player difficulty in Throne of Thunder struggled a little bit compared to the 25 player guilds.

Patch 5.4
  • In Patch 5.4, Valor Points will still be used to upgrade your items. There may also be other sources of gear for players that don't like raiding, which will not require Valor Points.
  • The new events in the Barrens are designed to keep players out in the world, without using daily quests. As long as things go well in 5.3, there will be something similar added in Patch 5.4.


Patch 5.3 Hotfixes - May 21
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
  • Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • Talents
      • Force of Nature now summons Treants that have 40% of the Druid's health, up from 10%.
        • Balance Druid Treants: Cast time for Wrath has been increased to 2.5 seconds, up from 2.0 seconds, and damage dealt has been increased by 25%.
  • Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • Mistweaver
      • Surging Mist will again properly grant Chi to the casting Monk when healing targets other than themselves while Glyph of Surging Mist is active.
  • Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • General
      • Divine Protection should now be usable while stunned.
  • Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
    • General
      • Fixed an issue for Restoration Shamans where Ascendance did not divide the amount healed by Restorative Mists among nearby allies properly.

Quests
  • Path of the Last Emperor: Seer Hao Pham Roo should no longer be overlapping with Lorewalker Cho.

Creatures
  • Galleon should now use the correct loot table while awarding loot.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
  • Karazhan
    • Chess Event: Increased the delay between moves for enemy chess pieces.
  • Scenarios
    • Fixed an issue with characters not shape-shifting back into the correct race while under the effects of an illusion spell enabling them to participate in an opposing faction's Scenarios.

PvP
  • Conquest Quartermasters (Armsmaster Holinka and Roo Desvin) have been temporarily disabled while we work to resolve an issue with the Tyrannical Conquest achievement.
  • Big Zokk Torquewrench has been found by a search party and brought back from their extended leave of absence.

Battlegrounds and Arenas
  • Deepwind Gorge has been temporarily removed from Rated Battlegrounds rotation while we work to resolve an issue affecting base capture.

Battlefield: Barrens
  • Map markers for caravans that have been destroyed should now be properly removed from the world map.
  • Overturned caravans should now despawn properly.

Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a crash on startup for Macs with the GMA 950 chipset.

Conquest Vendors Temporarily Disabled
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The achievement, Tyrannical Conquest, is only intended to be awarded when players earn 25,000 Conquest Points. Due to an issue that was not detected during the PTR testing process, the achievement could be awarded much earlier than intended. We are currently in the process of working to resolve the issue.

In the meantime, we’ve applied a hotfix that temporarily prevents players from purchasing gear from Tyrannical PvP item vendors.

LF Feedback - Pet Abilities Adjustments
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’re looking to make further Pet Battles adjustments in a future patch (potentially 5.4), and your valuable feedback is needed!

Currently, in an Elemental vs. Mechanical matchup, Elementals gain both an attack bonus versus Mechanicals as well as a defensive bonus against Mechanical abilities. In order to help even the playing field a bit, we were mulling over some potential changes to damage types, and the families they would be weak against.

Here are some initial ideas that are being kicked around:

  • Mechanical abilities would deal less damage versus Critter (instead of Elemental)
  • Elemental abilities would deal less damage versus Dragonkin (instead of Critter)
  • Flying abilities would deal less damage versus Elemental (instead of Dragonkin)

And here is a second set of ideas we’re considering:

  • Undead abilities would deal less damage versus Elemental (instead of Aquatic)
  • Mechanical abilities would deal less damage versus Aquatic (instead of Elemental)

Your thoughts on these potential changes would be really helpful, so please take a moment to reply below and let us know what you think.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Heroic Scenarios
Punishment for players who aren't social?
There are a great many things to do in World of Warcraft for players that prefer to be less engaged socially, such as Raid Finder, Dungeon Finder, PvP queues, questing, etc. The fact that there are pursuits in the game oriented toward organized gameplay isn't a punishment.

Quite the opposite. Heroic scenarios represent a reasonable challenge. It would be misleading to present a queue, since in other cases they exist only for gameplay elements designed specifically for randomly assembled groups, and for those players who queue to struggle because the content wasn't designed with random queuing in mind.

I know it would mean stepping outside of a comfort zone, but if you want to try them out, maybe you'll actually find that you have some fun finding other players on your realm to explore them with.

Aww...first time I'm ever quoted by a blue and I was being silly. I definitely agree with the sentiment that it just isn't intended to be done with a random queue. I think it is a good thing to encourage people to work in teams smaller than 10 again since the social part of the game (outside of guilds is dwindling)
That's awesome to hear! I'm curious to see what you think of them after you've tried a few.

I hear the loot has the potential to be pretty good. And I just quoted you in particular because I wanted to address the argument (not your argument) that pre-made group content represents some kind of punishment. I also quoted you because you're awesome. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

25k Conquest Achievement Fix
This is intentional. The achievement will be awarded once again after the issue that was causing it to be awarded too early is resolved.

Any estimate on how long this is going to be?
There's no ETA available at the moment, but it is something that we hope to resolve as soon as possible. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

25k Conquest Achievement Fix
And I still can't buy stuff from the QM's. I won arenas and BGs, then logged over to an alt.... now I can't buy them on this character...
Both the achievement and the vendors have been disabled until a fix can be applied that resolves an issue that was allowing the Tyrannical Conquest achievement to be awarded too early. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Heirloom Discount
Which discount were you referring to, out of curiosity? I don't recall any patch notes referring to Heirloom discounts?

I believe that the the Heirloom upgrades were reduced in price from their original costs, though. Perhaps that's the source of the confusion? (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Queue Times
We're definitely aware of the issue and are currently investigating it now, though we don't have an ETA for you just yet. Hang in there and we'll keep you informed should there be any further updates we can provide. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Openraid Event - Midwinter
Openraid is holding another event this weekend! This time you have the chance to ask questions and raid with Midwinter, the 7th place guild for this tier. This time around it is for US-Alliance players, but anyone can ask questions.



Dark Legacy Comics
DLC #390 has been released!

This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 5.3 Dev Interview, May 21 Hotfixes, Conquest Vendors Disabled, Blue Posts, DLC started by chaud View original post
Published on 2013-05-22 10:24 AM
39 Comments
Comments 39 Comments
  1. Ferrouswheel's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon View Post
    So, they know this:
    "When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up."

    Yet they still think this is the way to go:
    "Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do."

    I need a Philip J. Fry meme here.
    I think they're referring to the mass exodus that happened at the beginning of the expac when the forums lit up with people complaining they changed too much with our classes. Talent re hauls, stuff like that.
  1. Kazuchika's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by naturetauren View Post
    Dead servers.

    Stupid pvp changes.

    Too many instant CCs.

    Talent choices sucks.

    Yeah i have no clue why all my friends quit this game.
    Gosh maybe because this game is almost 9 years old?
  1. Schaapa's Avatar
    http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...dear-blizzard/

    *woosh* That's the sound of sarcasm flying over the head of that Blizzard employee. Not that we needed more proof the EU "blues" suck.
  1. Zeekua's Avatar
    Blizzard is trying to get content and expansions out quicker to make sure everyone has something to do.

    When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up.

    lol
  1. Die Hard's Avatar
    When quitting the game, players mention that the game changes too fast and they couldn't keep up.
    Who is the genius at Blizzard who came up with this crap? lol pathetic
  1. MasterHamster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Schaapa View Post
    http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...dear-blizzard/

    *woosh* That's the sound of sarcasm flying over the head of that Blizzard employee. Not that we needed more proof the EU "blues" suck.
    So, did you acknowledge that it got locked in a similar fashion to many other threads that breaks the forum code, even though it wasn't negative or directly flaming?
    Apparently not.
  1. nekobaka's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MasterHamster View Post
    So, did you acknowledge that it got locked in a similar fashion to many other threads that breaks the forum code, even though it wasn't negative or directly flaming?
    Apparently not.
    It doesnt help that there are threads that do break the forum rules that are reported and left unmoderated or even receive feedback from CMs despite breaking rules leaving the impression that it is okay to do such. Just like the many off topic threads in official general that the moderators leave alone now.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrouswheel View Post
    I think they're referring to the mass exodus that happened at the beginning of the expac when the forums lit up with people complaining they changed too much with our classes. Talent re hauls, stuff like that.
    Right expansions are where the developers tend to focus most of the changes and they are planning to pump out expansions even faster. That one year long lull of no change at the end of an expansion might be part of the problem and gets players into a groove that they become very resistant to change afterwards when they start having to think again, and say good bye to all their purdy purples, and not be able to out gear everything. That alone is a routine occurrence with a new expansion that not everyone enjoys. Sadly it gets jumbled up with nonconstructive feedback towards other systems.
    Quote Originally Posted by UcanDoSht View Post
    Original scenarios are too easy? We rocked all heroic scenarios with our alts today, easily beating every timer for the bonus VPs. Disappointing if you ask me.
    The originals was too easy from launch and mostly just frustrating when you ended up soloing them. Wonder what metric of too easy they are using. Even the gear requirements for the heroic five mans are far too high for what those are tuned for making them too easy from the get go and yet where are the super heroics?
  1. CaptainArlong's Avatar
    Want me back for the next expansion, Blizzard? No aliens (Draenei and their space ships, or the Burning Legion since they're made up of aliens from other planets). No Twilight Cult since they're dull and boring. No Derpwing or his offspring. No bug people or symbiotes like we see in MoP. Kill Sylvannas off and replace her with Arthas, yes, a Lich King free Arthas. Bring back the Scourge.

    But I'd be happy with no freaken aliens.

    And lower the monthly fee. The game looks so old, if you're going to charge $15 a month, UPDATE the character models.
  1. Roujeaux's Avatar
    "•There aren't many 25 player raiding guilds that only focus on Normal difficulty. These guilds usually try to get through Normal difficulty encounters quickly to move on to Heroic difficulty encounters.
    •There are a lot of 10 player raiding guilds that just focus on Normal content though, which means the players doing 10 player difficulty in Throne of Thunder struggled a little bit compared to the 25 player guilds."

    Wonder if they're considering going back to the 1st tier Wrath raid model, where normal raids were 10s only and heroic raids were 25 only with better loot, but with Mists heroic difficulty level?
  1. mmocf34d76dd20's Avatar
    So Blizzard wants to make World of Warcraft become Sims? New expansion twice a year and stuff packs including new hairstyle, outfits and such?

    Anyway, I've quit months ago after 5.2. Okay, we've got a new island, hooraaay ... and a bunch of new dailies ... boooo ... The next expansion will be the first thatI will not buy for sure. My whole guild quit WoW so there is nobody to go back for and no friends to play with.
  1. TheBaron87's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    New content isn't the type of change they are talking about.
    Content changes are exactly what made me quit, specifically the reduction in valor gain from group content and heavy focus on dailies. The Frost Mage changes ticked me off quite a bit, but I adapted to them. That gear grind though... I don't remember Cata being nearly as annoying as MoP for getting gear outside of raids.
  1. TheRickyB's Avatar
    just did chess event. he started by moving 3 pieces. . . his whole side was in the middle be4 i could move my 2nd piece. . . seems like they DECREASED time not increased. . .
  1. Peacemoon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    New content isn't the type of change they are talking about.
    Last time I checked, MoP made more than just a few minor changes to how classes and talents work ;-)
  1. chaud's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Faithshield View Post
    Last time I checked, MoP made more than just a few minor changes to how classes and talents work ;-)
    Class changes aren't new content. They were talking about class changes.
  1. Asrialol's Avatar
    There's nothing about the infinite looting of Scenario reward bags or other similar bags, even though it got hotfixed.
  1. SodiumChloride's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrouswheel View Post
    I think they're referring to the mass exodus that happened at the beginning of the expac when the forums lit up with people complaining they changed too much with our classes. Talent re hauls, stuff like that.
    Not really. It's the constant tweaking of the classes and being forced to relearn things. Not everyone has the time and energy to stay "current".
  1. MasterHamster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by SodiumChloride View Post
    Not really. It's the constant tweaking of the classes and being forced to relearn things. Not everyone has the time and energy to stay "current".
    How much re-learning is going on since the talent overhaul anyway...? I mean geez, even major patches have quite few class changes because, believe it or not, classes are fairly well balanced. Take a look at the major patches in BC, LK and there's dozens of changes for every class sometimes.
  1. SodiumChloride's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by MasterHamster View Post
    How much re-learning is going on since the talent overhaul anyway...? I mean geez, even major patches have quite few class changes because, believe it or not, classes are fairly well balanced. Take a look at the major patches in BC, LK and there's dozens of changes for every class sometimes.
    It's annoying a significant number of players, enough that Blizzard takes it into consideration when they tweak for balance - e.g. Avoid rotation changes (and/or changes to mechanics of active abilities) if possible.
  1. mmocabce60bc47's Avatar
    "Wait for some players to estimate numbers."

    This has to be one of the shittiest one-liners ever. So Street is too dumb to do the math, too smug to give a meaningful answer or too scared to be proven wrong once again?
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst
1
2

Site Navigation

Social Media

Services

My Account

Support

Advertise

Resources

Terms of Service

Privacy Policy

Our Communities

© 2023 Magic Find, Inc. All rights reserved.