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Fireside Chat Episode 8 VoD, Weekly News Recap, The Burdens of Shaohao - Parts 4 & 5

Patch 5.4 - Tier 16 Hunter Armor Set
Keep in mind that this is just a preview and the final set may be different!





Flex Difficulty Feedback
Flex difficulty needs more testing and feedback, so be sure to give it a try if you have time this weekend!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Many thanks for the excellent feedback thus far.

On Malkorok in particular, a bit more breathing room between the final Implosions and Breath wouldn't hurt (on Normal as well), and Blood Rage is actually doing more damage than it should be for our current Flexible tuning (a bug).

As for Flexible mode in general, we'll be reducing the overall difficulty relative to Normal across the board for our next PTR test. It's also quite possible (likely, even) that specific mechanics are overtuned on Normal as well, which will of course translate to excessive difficulty on Flexible as well -- we don't consider our Normal mode tuning final yet by any means.

I'd like to briefly clarify Flexible mode's target audience and what that means regarding how we tune the content: Flexible mode is primarily for roughly the audience served by 10-player Normal raiding in Wrath of the Lich King (10 Normal used to be a tier lower than 25 Normal). Not every guild that raids is a raiding guild, if that makes sense. I'd say that Flexible mode is for social groups that raid; Normal mode is for raiding guilds (and Heroic is for hardcore raiding guilds). That distinction consists of factors such as whether or not the group will ever recruit based on class needs, or remove someone based on performance (or even openly criticize them).

But a friends-and-family group is far from a ragtag pickup group. We're assuming that you have a leader running the show, are communicating, and are willing and able to coordinate a strategy and execute individual mechanics. Also, unlike Looking For Raid, which has a relatively flat difficulty level and which is designed to be successfully completed by all appropriately-geared players, Flexible mode entails progression. You'll learn and farm earlier fights to work your way up towards the more demanding ones deeper in the zone. A boss like Malkorok is Boss 9 of 14, and is generally designed as such. I'd compare him to bosses like Rotface or Festergut in Icecrown Citadel. Those certainly saw plenty of PUG action later in the 3.3 patch cycle, when the zone-wide Icecrown buff had ramped up a bit and the strategies were widely-known.

Now, will players form PUGs for Flexible Siege of Orgrimmar? Absolutely -- and we're excited at the prospect. But that's an organic process that will evolve over time, if we get the tuning right. I don't recall very many Trade chat PUGs waltzing into Icecrown Citadel in January 2010 and killing Festergut.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Legendary Cloak
In vanilla and every expansion before MoP we had legendary weapons to anticipate. Why isnt there any in MoP?
Weren't happy with the entitlement feel of DWrath and Fangs. If we do leg weapons again, we'd likely make them much rarer. (Source)
Either forget legendaries, or accept that people want OP items, and OP for some means unbalance so make it easy..
Legendary weapons are kind of OP by their nature. That's fine. Last few we just made it so every potential user could get. (Source)

I am thoroughly disappointed with the legendary being a cloak. All of this work throughout the xpac and we don't use it again.
What do you mean by "don't use it again?" (Source)
it disapp. me that now there's a leg. for everyone and it's a cloak thats shaped like a towel and clips models. Why no weapon?
We feel like we've done that a lot before. We want to keep things fresh. When rewards are too predictable they get boring. (Source)
Precedent is the problem. Ppl expected awesome weapons. Disappointed by dish towels (however awesome they may be)
Imagine the problems with this sentence: "I can easily predict what WoW will do next based on precedence." (Source)

Also is the proc. from the Tanking Cloaks working while in a DPS spec ?
No, you'll have to be a legit tank to benefit from the tank proc. (Source)

Why gate the new world boss using the legendary cape? Seems arbitrary and bad for alts.
I still struggle to understand wanting lots of alts but not having to play them as much as a main. Isn't that the point of an alt? (Source)

Reforging
And yet you think about changing reforging or even removing it.
My experience is that most players just use an add on or website to tell them how to reforge. (Source)
It probably works the best for healers, since sufficient regen is a feel thing, not something you can dictate. (Source)

I do like reforging to make poor items (haste trink for fury war) easier to swallow. I don’t like it for hit/exp though.
Yeah, the cascades where getting one new item causes you to reforge all are the worst. (Source)
Do you think it's more of a hit/exp-as-a-capped-stat issue then?
Certainly part of it, but we also don't like all the work that has to go into a drop before it's ready to wear. (Source)
Aren't enchants and gems and valor upgrades (and maybe transmog) enough? (Source)

Characters / Items
how do you feel having Pandaren shared between both factions has worked out? Would you do the same if new races were added?
Not a fan of it overall. We just didn't want to deny anyone Pandaren. (Source)

Was creating a humam char yday, all faces look awful! Compared with mop/cata races... new models can't get here fast enough.
Yep. Pretty much. (Source)

Can you please explain to me why the tier sets for tier 16 look so bland and tasteless? & why season 14 rogue looks like plate
Response to tier art is so ridiculously subjective that I long ago gave up trying to understand player reaction to it. (Source)
The advice I gave before is provide feedback on the kind of designs you'd like to see for future tiers and not just shout BAD. (Source)

Is the current Challenge Mode gear still going to be attainable next exp, or will it go away for good??
Current plan is you can still try to obtain it since it scales your gear. Not 100% sure though. (Source)

Random question, Do you think you'll ever have (8) set bonuses again?
I think it's unlikely in PvE. I'm not a fan of players ignoring all pieces except tier sets. Makes loot less interesting. (Source)

What is your opinion on the fact that when everyone can get 'Epics' the term 'Epic' is cheapened.
I feel like some of that is just standard mudflation. Would earning your way from blues to epics feel the same after 9 years? (Source)

of course they can be, but blizz prefers to ignore the storage space issue. Be lucky to see a fix even next xpac.
We aren't ignoring it. We just don't believe near infinite storage is necessary. We don't like e.g. 100 slot bags. (Source)

PTR notes: RPPM proc rates for items that proc haste, wont benefit from haste to proc more?? huh?
The interaction of RPPM with haste made those mechanics more powerful than intended. (Source)
We had cases where RPPM trinkets were a 10%+ damage increase and situations where no non-RPPM trinket would ever compete. (Source)

Any chance of Void Storage ever having the deposit cost removed? That's why I never use it. Withdraw makes more sense.
Transmog was originally conceived as a way to wear older tier sets. It has grown into much more though. (Source)
Given that, we don't think the current UI necessarily supports the feature as well as it could. (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 are stable, with most SSDs under $1 per gigabyte when on sale.

The new Haswell CPUs from Intel are here and they run a little bit on the warmer side. Depending on how much you want to overclock, you may need to spend a bit more for a better CPU cooler like the NH-D14 or H90.

Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or something that is similarly multithreaded, you do not need the 4770K 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
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
MonitorAsus VS229H-P 21.5" LED IPS Monitor - $135ASUS VS248H-P 24-Inch Monitor - $170
KeyboardKensington Pro Fit Media Keyboard - $18Cyborg V.5 - $47
MouseLogitech G400 - $47Razer Deathadder - $50
SpeakersCreative A220 2.1 Speaker System - $26Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $36
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
MonitorASUS VE278Q 27-Inch - $260HP ZR2440W 24-inch - $370
KeyboardLogitech G510 - $90Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $60 ($121)
MouseLogitech G500 - $45Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $70
SpeakersLogitech Z323 2.1 Speaker System - $59Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $70


Puppy and Dolphin
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
CaseNZXT Source 210 - $40NZXT Source 210 - $40
Power SupplyCorsair CX500 - $50XFX Core Edition PRO 550W - $50
CPUAMD FX-6300 - $125AMD FX-8320 - $145
HeatsinkCooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $28Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $33
MotherboardASUS M5A97 R2.0 - $100ASUS M5A99FX PRO - $120
MemoryKingston HyperX Blu 4GB 1333 - $358GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $70
Graphics CardXFX 7770 - $97ASUS 7870 2 GB or ASUS GTX 660 Ti - $200 / $199
Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $55Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - $85
DVDAsus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22
Total$552$765


Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
CaseCooler Master HAF 912 - $50Corsair Air 540 (Special Layout) - $140
Power SupplyCorsair 650TX V2 - $90Corsair 750HX - $110
CPUIntel i5-4670K - $219Intel i7-4770K - $330
HeatsinkThermaltake Frio - $57Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $77
MotherboardASUS Z87-A - $112ASUS Z87-PLUS - $165
Memory8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $7016GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 - $137
Graphics CardMSI 7950 OR MSI N760 TF - $240 / $260MSI 7970 OR Gigabyte GTX 770 - $350 / $400
Hard DriveWestern Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $85Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $85
SSDSAMSUNG 840 128GB (Review) - $98
OR
Plextor 128 GB M5 Pro (Review) - $120
Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB (Review) - $125
OR
SAMSUNG 840 Pro 128GB (Review) - $130
DVDAsus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $22
Total$1043 - $1085$1492 - $1574


Weekly News Recap
Another busy week full of news, so here is your chance to catch up!

This article was originally published in forum thread: Tier 16 Hunter, Flex Difficulty Feedback, Blue Tweets, Setup of the Month, News Recap started by chaud View original post
Comments 92 Comments
  1. mmoce6005d79bf's Avatar
    Worst hunter set ever.
    Why do we get laser beams from Siege of Orgrimmar raid ?
    ON HUNTER SET ?
    Why can't we have hunter themed sets?

    I know it is all subjective - some may like this set.. but why should it be hunter? Let rogues, monks wear that crap!
  1. Majestian's Avatar
    One thing they could do as far as Tier sets go is to offer an achievement of sorts; once you've collected all the pieces (both specific to the set, and any off-set matching pieces), you then can use them for transmog without needing to store them in the bank or void storage.

    "Achievement Unlocked: Judgement Armor".

    Then just go to the transmog guy, and the pieces appear in the flyout lists.

    There really needs to be another Void Storage tab, or another bank slot or two, something to temporarily remedy the problem while they try and find this fabled Long-Term Solution.
  1. mmoc8c32716f2c's Avatar
    That set couldn't look any less hunter-like if it tried :-/
  1. Nutri's Avatar
    I'd love to see a "Tier set Container" of some sort.

    Make it a 1 slot item that can only contain 8/8 or 5/5 items for that certain tier set. Or even better, a full loadout of 19 unique slots in one container.
    I'd even accept this container only being available in the bank or void storage.

    <Corruptor Raiment Container>, <Dragonslayer Container> etc. Give it the headpiece as an icon. Done.

    We're soon nearing 16 tier sets. That's over 128 slots (incl offset items) without even counting weapons if you happen to have all tiers. In most cases that's a full bank. Just for tiers.
  1. Kazuchika's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    So? You can't "instantly" get the legendary cloak; you'll likely have seen your cloak drop in between now and actually obtaining the number of whatevers from SoO required to upgrade it. Nor would this one cloak, even in legendary form, make up for otherwise poor gear... Are you going to bench a person in your dedicated heroic raid team in favor of a guy you saw parading around in the cloak and LFR gear?
    Uhh according to Lore you're supposed to and that's pretty much the point.

    You severely underestimate or moreso have no idea how much of an impact the cloak and the meta have on player performance and thus progression as a whole. If you don't have it you're going to be so far behind everyone else and thus hampering your progression. It's not just something that once you have it you go "oh it's cool I only gimped my raid for 3 months of SoO progression just to get my secrets"

    I never said anything about benching anyone. I said that anyone forced to main switch for progression reasons is immediately gimped unless they decided to run LFR into the ground every week on more than one toon and that the legendary "system" needs to be scrapped or legendaries need to be done away with entirely.

    In the progression game it's a must have. There's no way around it.
  1. Sneezeburger's Avatar
    Strange that Blizzard would complain about a sense of entitlement with regards to legendaries. As many have pointed out they've been capitulating to that same sense of entitlement since mid-Wrath. Why stop now?
  1. Slappyjoe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Because when a new tier comes out, you can't possibly avoid wearing it's look. Gee, if there were only some magical system that let you change the look of armor pieces, perhaps into old sets that you might like more...

    If only such a powerful system existed that allowed people to not have to wear the most current tier of gear, and instead could wear an outfit you had previously assembled that you liked. I mean, people always say the old tiers were better... wouldn't it be great if there was some way to wear their look again...


    But as far as I know, no such system exists in game. So you're right, Blizzard is just bending people over their knee so they HAVE to buy whatever new gear set would come out on the cash shop, as there's simply no other way to wear a good looking set of armor.

    ...wait a second...
    If you'll step out of your cloud of sarcasm for just a moment you might realize that people like getting new gear in a game largely based around getting new gear. If that new gear doesn't fit what they typically get for their class, of course they're going to say something about it. The whole "just use transmog" excuse is tired and really dumb. Yeah, transmog is a great feature and yeah, if I don't like a new tier set I can use it so I don't have to look at it. But can you seriously not understand people's desire to like a shiny new set of gear and not have to transmog it into something they've already seen?
  1. sariax's Avatar
    Why did you reprint blue tweets from a month ago? I know for a fact that one about precedent weapons and dish towels is way old.
  1. Syrus-JI's Avatar
    I was really hating the T16 Shaman set until I saw this.... lol. Now I feel relatively lucky.
  1. mmoc2909f72852's Avatar
    Hunter T16 -> Battlegear of the Vacuum Cleaner
  1. cpillow's Avatar
    I can understand the laser pointer on the head....but why on the shoulders?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Why do we hunters need plate looking complicated armor? Less is more. Simplicity is beautiful. They should focus on what a hunter requires. Two shoulderpads wouldn't really be worn. Maybe go with the single shoulderpad design....for ease of accessibility while firing. Leather would play a huge part in the design. A hood. Hell....you can even make it so we have a scope over one eye. No dangling pieces. That would not suit well in a hunt. Definitely NO HEAVY LOOKING EQUIPMENT. Don't have one solid chest piece - only need half of our chest covered so that it's not in the way for archery. Amazon women cut off a breast so it wouldn't hinder their archery why can't we do the same with the armor?
  1. Gren's Avatar
    Nothing says Hunter like a Cyclops helm that shoots laserbeams!!! I guess I'll be able to ditch my ranged weapon


    Can you please explain to me why the tier sets for tier 16 look so bland and tasteless? & why season 14 rogue looks like plate
    Response to tier art is so ridiculously subjective that I long ago gave up trying to understand player reaction to it. (Source)
    The advice I gave before is provide feedback on the kind of designs you'd like to see for future tiers and not just shout BAD. (Source)

    I've got your answer! Make Hunter gear look hunter like and Rogue gear more Rogue like!!! etc.
    I think it may be time to find a new design staff for tier sets.
  1. carnifex2005's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Maleagant View Post
    Not a fan of that Hunter set.If I could get Blizzard to design a Hunter outfit I would give them this as a starting point.No LED lights or animal head helmets.
    I don't think Blizzard would like to do a direct ripoff of a Guild Wars 2 armor set.
  1. Farora's Avatar
    Hunter set looks like plate >_>
  1. dochon's Avatar
    hunter tier 16 looks like ice crown and firelands mixed rogue tier. using the same models from previous tiers nothing new here. hunters wanna be rogues when they grow up.
  1. Draelan's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by themightysven View Post
    Hunter 4 piece tier bonus: Gunshot noise replaced by Foghorn
    "Now, bang - I say - BANG that is! That's gunfire, boy! Pay attention! ... Nice boy, but doesn't listen to a word ya say."
  1. Demona3's Avatar
    As a hunter myself since vanilla.....this set looks like TRASH. OH MUH GAWD. What the F*CK was blizzard thinking? This is absolutely horrible. I will be transmoging out of this crap style.
    A light bulb for a helmet?

    They really need to hire a fashion designer and go from there.
  1. ronaldmc's Avatar
    Yeah, sorry, I can't digest that hunter set in any way possible. I know, it is supposed to correlate to "focus" and "aim"... but that's not "hunter" at all, even after taking that into consideration. It's like a one-eyed ogre married a sunflower and had a baby near a mine node in Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

    People want to look epic! Not like a robot or whatever that is. You know what... the guys creating these concepts should make cosplays of each set and get out on the streets. Then ask people around what they think of it, what they relate those figures with. I doubt any one would say hunter, or epic, or even mention that they would wear it too. It has a clown feeling to it that makes it silly before cool and desirable.
  1. mmoc43008dbbf2's Avatar
    Looks like rogue/mage/monk set to me I was hoping for a Orgrimmar hunter-stalker themed set..sigh..
  1. Darkhallows's Avatar
    Where's the Orc-based Hunter set? I know there's a wolf head on the Challenge Mode gear, but seriously, why not something based on Rexxar, or something with that badass set above. (The one with the hat. That screams bounty-hunter.) Something hunter-like.

    I know art is subjective (and that's a problem, especially because of this.) You guys need to get the art department for your current PVP sets back to designing these. Or re-purpose their positions and hire new people. I've been happy with most sets for eight years. (Except for t12) but the t16 sets are probably the worst possible designs. It's not that they just look bad, they look (particularly in the case of this one and the Monk+Rogue ones) half-assed and underfinished.

    If you want people to use these sets instead of using transmog, please put more effort into the sets. You have the ability and the capability! I hope what seems like community backlash for most of these sets helps you realize!

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