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Patch 5.4 - Sky Golem Mount, Blue Tweets, Sha of Fear Solo Kill, Weekly News Recap

Patch 5.4 Arena Update
You can see the UI changes here.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Big changes are coming to World of Warcraft’s Arenas that will make participating more convenient and competitive than ever before, and some of those changes may begin appearing on the PTR very soon.

Today, competition is limited to the realms within your Battlegroup, and your ability to participate in the Arena system requires having a static team with friends on the same realm. In the upcoming Patch 5.4, we’re building on technological improvements we’ve made over time (such as region-wide matchmaking) to expand the pool of competitors and improve the Arena experience for all World of Warcraft players.

One of the first things you’ll notice in Patch 5.4 is that you’ll no longer need to join or create an Arena team to compete. Instead, queuing will work much as it does for Rated Battlegrounds: you can queue for an Arena battle in a party of the appropriate size (still 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5), and your opponents will be selected based on the average Match Making Rating of your party.

For the most part, the mechanics of Arena will remain the same. You’ll still gain and lose personal rating based on your wins and losses, though your Conquest Point cap will now be based on your Personal Rating. The rating requirements to purchase items will also be based on your Personal Rating.

The change will confer a few advantages over the old static-team-based system:

  • You’ll no longer need to worry about invitations, joining, or leaving an Arena team. Now you can play with who you want, when you want.
  • You’ll be able to join a cross-realm group and queue for Arena matches with friends from other realms.
  • The Arena ladder will no longer be sorted according to Battlegroup. Just like Rated Battlegrounds and normal Battlegrounds, now all Arenas will be region-wide. You’ll be competing with a field of opponents that includes every Arena player in your region.

As before, at the end of an Arena season, the top players will still earn titles and mounts.

We’re excited for these changes, and we’re eagerly looking forward to hearing your feedback. Please join us on the PTR when these updates go live to check them out for yourself.

Patch 5.4 Official Notes Update
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
General
Redesigned Arena System
  • Players no longer need to create or join an Arena team to compete.
  • Similar to the Rated Battleground system, players in a party of the appropriate size (cross-realm groups are supported) may queue for an Arena bracket of the same size (2v2, 3v3, or 5v5).
  • Each player will have a personal rating that increase or decrease based on victories and defeats against other rated opponents. Opponents will be selected based on the average Match Making Rating of the party.
  • Conquest cap, requirements on gear and enchantments will be based on the player's personal rating.
  • The Arena ladder will no longer be sorted according to Battlegroup. Just like Rated Battlegrounds and normal Battlegrounds, all Arenas will now be region-wide!
  • At the end of an Arena season, the top players in a region will still earn titles and mounts.
  • For more details about the change to Arenas, please see the blog titled: Patch 5.4 Arena Update.

Classes
  • Area knockback effects now all share a diminishing return category. After a player has been moved by one of these spells, the player will be immune for 10 seconds. This new category applies to: Fellash, Gorefiend’s Grasp, Glyph of Explosive Trap, Thunderstorm, Typhoon, Ursol’s Vortex, and Whiplash.

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Restoration
    • Living Seed effects can now stack, up to 50% of the casting Druid's maximum health, and will no longer be consumed if the target is already at full health.

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • General
    • Explosive Trap had its overall damage decreased by 30%. Proportionately, more damage has been removed from the initial damage than the periodic effect.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Talents
    • Chi Brew will now also generate stacks of Brew/Teas based on the Monk's specialization.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Talents
    • Eternal Flame initial healing has been reduced by 30%.
    • Execution Sentence will now immediately damage the target for 5 times the amount of damage that had been dealt by Execution Sentence most recent periodic effect when dispelled.
      • Stay of Execution will now immediately heal the target for 5 times the amount of healing that had been dealt by Stay of Execution most recent periodic effect when dispelled.
    • Sacred Shield changes have been reverted and is a talent once more. (Old) has been renamed to Holy Shield and is no longer a talent. Holy Shield is a Protection Paladin ability learned at level 85.
    • Sacred Shield (New)
      • Holy: When the Paladin or their Beacon of Light target falls below 30% health, that target gains a Sacred Shield absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. Sacred Shield can only occur once every 2 minutes.
      • Protection, Retribution: When the Paladin falls below 30% health, they gain a Sacred Shield absorbing damage equal to 30% of their maximum health. Sacred Shield can only occur once every 2 minutes.
    • Sanctified Wrath
      • Protection: Now causes Judgment to generate 2 Holy Power instead of 1 while Avenging Wrath is active. reduces the cooldown of Judgment by 100% (up from 50%).

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • General
    • Hymn of Hope now prefers to target healers when it grants mana. Healers will always be picked before non-healers, regardless of how much mana they have.
  • Glyphs
    • New Minor Glyph: Glyph of Feathers causes the Priest's healing spells to momentarily grant angelic wings.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Arms
    • Slam now deals 35% of damage dealt against the primary target to all other enemies within 2 yards, and causes an additional 10% damage to targets affected by the warrior’s Colossus Smash.

Items
  • Adjustments have been made to Mists of Pandaria faction quartermasters.
    • Epic quality (purple) Valor items sold by the Shado-Pan Assault now have their reputation requirements reduced to Friendly or below, and have their Valor Point cost reduced by 34%.
    • Epic quality (purple) Valor items sold by all other Mists of Pandaria faction quartermasters no longer have reputation requirements, and will now cost Justice Points instead of Valor.
    • Rare quality (blue) items have their Justice Point cost reduced by 75%.
    • No changes for items that require an Exalted reputation.
  • The conversion rate for Justice Points to Honor Points have changed. The conversion rate is now 500 Justice per 250 Honor (up from 375 Justice per 250 Honor).
  • Equipping any pair of PvP trinkets from Season 12 or later will now grant a 10% reduction in damage taken from other players.
  • [PTR]: For testing purposes, Flaskataur, Esq. will be available near the Niuzao Temple selling normal Tier-16 armor and Tier-16 trinkets for gold.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Patch 5.4 Arena Update started by chaud View original post
Comments 95 Comments
  1. potatoe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Revak View Post
    While some of these changes are nice; the change to JP to Honor conversion is terrible. The JP's I accumulate on my main running heroics will in no way benefit me with purchasing the epics PvE items that can now be purchased with JP's. For years I have used this for buying honor PvP gear and now it's more tedious. I do BG's, PvP dailies, etc. But this allowed me to work towards PvP gear (some for current PvP and some for transmog) while also working towards the PvE side of things (which I mostly play). I see no reason for them to make this change.
    I see a reason.

    I'm guessing they saw that a lot of people were doing 5-mans just for pvp gear instead of doing BGs.

    They probably want you to gear for PVP mostly through PVP instances and not PVE instances.

    Feel free to disagree, but it at least makes some sense.
  1. mmocef366ff7e8's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Die Hard View Post
    I like the arena changes.

    ---------- Post added 2013-07-01 at 07:52 PM ----------



    Did you even read the blue post?
    Yes, yes we did. Did you?
    Instead, queuing will work much as it does for Rated Battlegrounds: you can queue for an Arena battle in a party of the appropriate size
  1. Revak's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by potatoe View Post
    I see a reason.

    I'm guessing they saw that a lot of people were doing 5-mans just for pvp gear instead of doing BGs.

    They probably want you to gear for PVP mostly through PVP instances and not PVE instances.

    Feel free to disagree, but it at least makes some sense.

    Then remove the conversion all together if that's how it is supposed to be.

    I get what you're saying. But there's really no need to change it. It's still not as efficient as doing BG's...it's just an added bonus to running heroics for valor 6 months after you no longer need anything from them but valor. Why remove the added bonus or make it more difficult to attain? It just takes a little of the fun away from the game.
  1. Shampro's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Revak View Post
    While some of these changes are nice; the change to JP to Honor conversion is terrible. The JP's I accumulate on my main running heroics will in no way benefit me with purchasing the epics PvE items that can now be purchased with JP's. For years I have used this for buying honor PvP gear and now it's more tedious. I do BG's, PvP dailies, etc. But this allowed me to work towards PvP gear (some for current PvP and some for transmog) while also working towards the PvE side of things (which I mostly play). I see no reason for them to make this change.
    The reason is simple, right now is easier to run 5mans to get pvp gear than to actually do PVP. So this change doesnt completely negate you from doing PVE for PVP gear, but the rate in which you would receive Honor will be better in BGS (depending on how much you win obv).

    Its not rocket science. Yes it is currently more efficient to run 5man over pugged Bgs. The convertiion rate is too low. You should be encouraged to do PVP to get PVP gear, the PVE convertion should just be a bonus, not the easiest way. Its more than logical.
  1. link4117's Avatar
    Was the arena team thing keeping people from playing with their friends? I thought it was because some people didn't want to screw up their ratings.
  1. Shampro's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by link4117 View Post
    Was the arena team thing keeping people from playing with their friends? I thought it was because some people didn't want to screw up their ratings.
    Mix of too, A lot of people didnt want to grp up with other people because of thier Team rateing. Other people didnt have the chance to play with some of thier friends because they were on another realm. These changes basicly eradicate those issues. Like it says you can play with whoever you want when ever you want without your ''team'' rateing going to shit because you left the team or your teamate left. Its all personal Rateing.
  1. Ehky's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Whopoppedhero View Post
    Just don't hit the 'Enter Arena' button?

    Not seeing the issue here.
    IIRC, at the moment if you hit "don't enter" your team rating drops. Wondering if CR will as well.
  1. Iyarashii's Avatar
    Unless they make an option to reset your rating this is a terrible change IMO, people are not going to want to run with lower exp friends cause they don't want to ruin their personal rating or MMR or even ratio, people are just like that, and I see this as a huge problem.
  1. Daniri's Avatar
    They're on a quest to make justice as useless as possible this expansion.
  1. Wogehkak's Avatar
    Does the Slam buff mean Arms warriors should Slam to AE close targets than whirlwind? I'm kind of confused the point of extra splash lol
  1. Shampro's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daniri View Post
    They're on a quest to make justice as useless as possible this expansion.
    Except you can buy epics 489(Better than Tier 14 lfr) with them when this releases. Meaning you really wont even need to touch Tier 14 content and you can leap to Throne and SoO content. Dunno how is that useless.
  1. HeaddsDead's Avatar
    it says T16 trinkets are ble to be purchased now...but i went to the pve t16 vendor they wernt there nor were they at the vendor in shrine...is there something im missing?
  1. Daniri's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shampro View Post
    Except you can buy epics 489(Better than Tier 14 lfr) with them when this releases. Meaning you really wont even need to touch Tier 14 content and you can leap to Throne and SoO content. Dunno how is that useless.
    I glanced over that.
  1. Whopoppedhero's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by InsertStrangeNameHere View Post
    it says T16 trinkets are ble to be purchased now...but i went to the pve t16 vendor they wernt there nor were they at the vendor in shrine...is there something im missing?
    These are patch 5.4 notes, meaning that it's not yet implemented. Only on the PTR.
  1. Venziir's Avatar
    Well, that's certainly one way to fix the issue of alt gearing...
  1. mmoc1259ab4950's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Whopoppedhero View Post
    These are patch 5.4 notes, meaning that it's not yet implemented. Only on the PTR.
    He's talking about that, they're not on there yet.
  1. TirielWoW's Avatar
    The change to the Justice to Honor conversion is so dumb. So incredibly dumb. People are still going to convert Justice to Honor because the Honor gear is loads better than the gear on the Justice Vendor. If they want people to stop picking up PvP gear, give us something else to spend the JP on.
  1. Glorious Leader's Avatar
    Also farming honor from bgs is a TERRIBLE grind all by itself. The justice point gains in dungeons are far smoother because well you complete dungeons more often than you win bgs (or at least that's been my experience). Their is np "lose" in dungeon grinding jp especially with how easy mist heroics are. This is an absurd change to fix a problem that bothered nobody.
  1. Tolstyj's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by HeatherRae View Post
    The change to the Justice to Honor conversion is so dumb. So incredibly dumb. People are still going to convert Justice to Honor because the Honor gear is loads better than the gear on the Justice Vendor. If they want people to stop picking up PvP gear, give us something else to spend the JP on.
    You will be able to buy 489/496 gear with justice points.
  1. Azrile's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Erous View Post
    I'm not a PvP'er...but this is just another removal of the social aspect of the game...granted, playing with those you know from other servers seems cool...but queuing alone? that's a shame
    This is exactly the reason the devs should avoid the forums and NEVER listen to player feedback from the general community. So much whining and complaining happens from people who can´t even bother to read.. or even make an intelligent attempt at understanding the benefits of something.

    HINT - You will STILL need to pre-form your group before queuing. The difference now is those people you form a group with do not need to be on a permanent team with you AND you can form your group with people from other servers.

    ---------- Post added 2013-07-01 at 08:29 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by HeatherRae View Post
    The change to the Justice to Honor conversion is so dumb. So incredibly dumb. People are still going to convert Justice to Honor because the Honor gear is loads better than the gear on the Justice Vendor. If they want people to stop picking up PvP gear, give us something else to spend the JP on.
    Way to read half the patch notes! You missed the part about the 5.1 and 5.0 VP gear now being purchasable with JP and having no rep requirement. That is instant 496 ilvl, including trinkets.

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