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Patch 5.4 PTR - Build 17345
Diablo 3 Console Interview, Blue Posts, Reaper of Souls Wallpaper
Beta Patch 3749 - EU Preparation PatchPatch 5.4 - Spawn of Galakras
Patch 5.4 adds the Reins of Galakras mount, which is a reward from the Glory of the Orgrimmar Raider achievement. Keep in mind that this achievement can be completed in Flex, Normal, or Heroic difficulty.
FEEDBACK: The Gates of Retribution (LFR)
The second wing of Siege of Orgrimmar is now available on Raid Finder mode, and will remain available through Monday, September 2.
Please use this thread to provide feedback on any of the bosses being tested in this wing, including group makeup (premade, random, mixed) and Determination stack count.
Please use this thread to provide feedback on any of the bosses being tested in this wing, including group makeup (premade, random, mixed) and Determination stack count.
PTR Hotfix to RPPM Mechanics
Hi folks,
Over the last few days we identified a glitch that was causing the “time since last chance to proc” counter of RPPM mechanics to reset unnecessarily, regardless of whether the effect had actually had a chance to activate. This was resulting in much lower than intended proc rates for RPPM effects on the 5.4 PTR.
We’ve applied a hotfix that should resolve the issue, but wanted you to be aware – RPPM trinkets (and other effects) should be activating more regularly on the PTR now. Note that this issue was unique to the 5.4 PTR and is not present on live servers.
Over the last few days we identified a glitch that was causing the “time since last chance to proc” counter of RPPM mechanics to reset unnecessarily, regardless of whether the effect had actually had a chance to activate. This was resulting in much lower than intended proc rates for RPPM effects on the 5.4 PTR.
We’ve applied a hotfix that should resolve the issue, but wanted you to be aware – RPPM trinkets (and other effects) should be activating more regularly on the PTR now. Note that this issue was unique to the 5.4 PTR and is not present on live servers.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Battlefield: Barrens Ending Soon
Vanity rewards that reflect the achievements of the player should follow the player, not simply be restricted to a character that may very well be set aside one day.
Agree to disagree? I have my Tabard of the Protector on a single character, and I'll always cherish that item, and remember that I was there for the Burning Crusade launch with that specific character. She was there, she stepped through the portal at midnight, and that's not some generic reward all my characters have. I can see the appeal of having that available to all my characters, but personally I quite like that the character itself has a history, and has individual accomplishments, rather than everything I do being given to every new character I make.
I totally get that not everyone is going to care about building a legacy of experience with each character, and they just want everything to be account-wide, but obviously there are others that appreciate that being at a point in the history of the game with a specific character leaves some kind of lasting mark on that character.
so glad I spent 2 hours last week farming the head-shrinka only for it to be removed. Cool.
It's not going to be removed from your character, he means removed from being obtainable to anyone that doesn't already have it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Vanity rewards that reflect the achievements of the player should follow the player, not simply be restricted to a character that may very well be set aside one day.
Agree to disagree? I have my Tabard of the Protector on a single character, and I'll always cherish that item, and remember that I was there for the Burning Crusade launch with that specific character. She was there, she stepped through the portal at midnight, and that's not some generic reward all my characters have. I can see the appeal of having that available to all my characters, but personally I quite like that the character itself has a history, and has individual accomplishments, rather than everything I do being given to every new character I make.
I totally get that not everyone is going to care about building a legacy of experience with each character, and they just want everything to be account-wide, but obviously there are others that appreciate that being at a point in the history of the game with a specific character leaves some kind of lasting mark on that character.
so glad I spent 2 hours last week farming the head-shrinka only for it to be removed. Cool.
It's not going to be removed from your character, he means removed from being obtainable to anyone that doesn't already have it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Scenarios
about the gamebreaker interview: Heroic scenarios are not premade content. Most people chose the first people from trade chat
That's still premade, just premade without much effort. You still have more control over the group than LFD. (Source)
Have you forgot what desaster 5 mans were in tbc without df?
There was no alternative though. With scenarios, normal = matchmaking, heroic = premades. Could have worked for dungeons maybe. (Source)
Any chance on having the other scenarios scaled up to heroic? I really enjoy heroic scenarios.
No immediate plans, but we'd call heroic scenarios a big success. They are very popular, despite lack of matchmaking. Yay. (Source)
Raid Finder
No other game forces you to complete it on easy mode before you have access to the way was intended to be played
I think you are assuming intentions that aren't actually there. If you are an LFR player, then the intent is LFR is for you. (Source)
That's a very valid concern, and one I've raised. The activation barrier to being social is feeling insurmountable.
I don't think LFR is ever going to feel very social, nor was it intended to be. OTOH, features like Flex have a decent chance. (Source)
thoughts on limiting lfr? Say 10/12 available bosses -> incentive to push normals, exclusivity for norm/hc.
Potentially. We all like exclusive content. You just can't let that come at the expense of content in general. (Source)
but its also a question wether content is lfr appropriate by design. Lei Shen wasn't, so why force it? Sour taste.
We tried to push it a bit with Lei Shen LFR. Should it be a goal that NO communication or coordination is required for LFR ever? (Source)
It's infact a broad audience gamestyle, while organized raiding is and was niche.
That's not really accurate. LK Nax and ICC had huge participation without LFR. (Source)
The diff was they were fairly forgiving, which is what we're going for with flex. (Source)
It's essentially solo play. I don't know anyone else in LFR plus trolls are there
LFR is ideally for when you're between friends or your friends aren't online. (Source)
I just don't think playing WoW completely as a solo game would be a great experience. (Source)
We expect to see flex pugs spring up in a month. Even that is more social than LFR. (Source)
We will see how it will work out. I would love flex to be successfull.
Give it a few weeks for players to learn the fights and let us know how it goes. (Source)
I really have to agree here, it feels like being punished for only being able to run LFR
It's a carrot. If you can get every reward from LFR there is much less motivation to play with friends. (Source)
Short term, we get that solo is a big convenience. Long term, we think it drives players away from the game. (Source)
Your fixation on "organized gameplay" is scary, even if it is just not successfull at all.
It's a multiplayer game. Organized gameplay is it's heart and soul. (Source)
playing is it's heart and soul. And please tell me which letter in MMORPG stands for organized
The second one, as I said. If you ignore all those other players or treat them as NPCs then why not play Skyrim or something? (Source)
I would have to agree that LFR is in a weird place. It is fun for everybody to see it once or twice but then it gets old. fast
Some motivation to perform would go a long way. Currently success is nearly guaranteed whether you are paying attention or not. (Source)
I don't think we could make LFR so challenging that you have to perform well, but there are other approaches. (Source)
Items
Could you disable the chance for TF items to drop until after world first H clears? Or maybe "non-raid" patches.
Getting a weapon vs not during world first > getting a TF weapon vs non TF weapon. (Source)
Can you address 10m vs. 25m thunderforged loot? 10m almost never gets the drops they can use in TF form.
Ten has so many other benefits though. Doesn't 25 get to have a few? (Source)
weapons tend to be the biggest problem - can we just not have TF weapons at all?
It makes me sad to talk about removing the most exciting, powerful drops just because players can't count on getting them. (Source)
If I can't count on getting the best drops, that's fine. If Method can't, then something is wrong with the system
Method is affected far more by whether a weapon drops period than whether a TF one does. (Source)
They are going to clear the zone with very few drops per boss period. They may have raiders with 1-2 heroic pieces at first. (Source)
Why is that? NA Subs don't want harder bosses in 25 and gear separation? I miss how the loot diff was separate in 25.
We locked 10 and 25 based on burnout complaints from NA/EU but Asia had a strong tradition of running both, so they still can. (Source)
Note that I am generalizing regions here. No doubt there are burned out Chinese or NA/EU players who want to raid more a week. (Source)
ilvl jumps between tiers are insanely huge. why did you guys think this was a good idea?
Otherwise raiders can't improve their gear every week to beat new bosses. (Source)
We have also found, through feedback, that 13-19 ilevels of power feels, psychologically, like a noticeable increase. (Source)
PvE
Why not remove enrage timers from bosses in normal modes? WoW has too many guides for maxing DPS. This would help reduce that.
The timers are pretty relaxed in 5.2 compared to 5.0. Without them, risk of normal guilds bringing 10 healers and nearly no DPS. (Source)
You disguise "We were wrong" as "Were trying something else" though. Cant remember you ever saying you were wrong
We were wrong to make the DMF trinkets so powerful without giving them an appropriate ilevel to communicate that intent. (Source)
We were wrong to put so much emphasis on daily quests that locked gear in 5.0. (Source)
We were wrong to make Cataclysm dungeons hard without offering any alternative for the LFD crowd. (Source)
I'd like to see 4 difficulties for dungeons. Leveling, Max Level, Heroic Max Level, and Challenge. Epics for H mode like TBC.
Yeah, we think tough heroics could work so long as they aren't the only route to gearing for LFR and flex raiding. (Source)
I would be really pleased, knowing that I can be staisfied with 300 points in a busy week, and 1700 when I'm off duty.
Yeah the challenge is that if some players earned 1700 a week, others would think that's what they had to do to keep up. (Source)
why not put a cap limit on spending instead of gaining like lesser charms
I said a few weeks ago that a spending cap has potential. It just needs bulletproofing (example: We offer refunds). (Source)
LK model worked well here. Lots of new content addressed 11 geared toons now what syndrome. Not sustainable?
We saw the alt explosion in the ICC and DS tiers though. Guess which equivalent tier hasn't shipped yet. (Source)
so, unh, isn't it a little backwards to do so much raid testing before the tuning pass is done?
The raid testing helps us with the tuning and also with the raid mechanics (and fun) in general. (Source)
There will be plenty of raid tests with stable numbers as well. (Source)
Do you think that perhaps many people are intimidated by raiding guilds, and prefer to see content on own terms
I'm not sure that's common. You don't need to be in a hardcore guild to be in a fun guild that still raids (or not even). (Source)
Please don't even consider normal raids for flex. It's the last thing I really enjoy in this game, it's fine the way it is.
You aren't ever sad when you have to turn someone away or cancel a raid when too few show? That's the strength of flex. (Source)
with the celestials been the new nalak/sha. are the loot tables linked i.e. kill one thats it or 4 chances for loot
it's one a week. Pick which one you want to fight. (Source)
So to be clear, they all share the same loot-lockout and loot table?
Yes. (Source)
Have you guys ever considered/talked about, making your own verison, or possibly working with the guys from WoWProgress?
We would have to make a lot of hard calls, like whether skipping the 2nd boss to kill the 4th and 5th is more or less progress. (Source)
about the gamebreaker interview: Heroic scenarios are not premade content. Most people chose the first people from trade chat
That's still premade, just premade without much effort. You still have more control over the group than LFD. (Source)
Have you forgot what desaster 5 mans were in tbc without df?
There was no alternative though. With scenarios, normal = matchmaking, heroic = premades. Could have worked for dungeons maybe. (Source)
Any chance on having the other scenarios scaled up to heroic? I really enjoy heroic scenarios.
No immediate plans, but we'd call heroic scenarios a big success. They are very popular, despite lack of matchmaking. Yay. (Source)
Raid Finder
No other game forces you to complete it on easy mode before you have access to the way was intended to be played
I think you are assuming intentions that aren't actually there. If you are an LFR player, then the intent is LFR is for you. (Source)
That's a very valid concern, and one I've raised. The activation barrier to being social is feeling insurmountable.
I don't think LFR is ever going to feel very social, nor was it intended to be. OTOH, features like Flex have a decent chance. (Source)
thoughts on limiting lfr? Say 10/12 available bosses -> incentive to push normals, exclusivity for norm/hc.
Potentially. We all like exclusive content. You just can't let that come at the expense of content in general. (Source)
but its also a question wether content is lfr appropriate by design. Lei Shen wasn't, so why force it? Sour taste.
We tried to push it a bit with Lei Shen LFR. Should it be a goal that NO communication or coordination is required for LFR ever? (Source)
It's infact a broad audience gamestyle, while organized raiding is and was niche.
That's not really accurate. LK Nax and ICC had huge participation without LFR. (Source)
The diff was they were fairly forgiving, which is what we're going for with flex. (Source)
It's essentially solo play. I don't know anyone else in LFR plus trolls are there
LFR is ideally for when you're between friends or your friends aren't online. (Source)
I just don't think playing WoW completely as a solo game would be a great experience. (Source)
We expect to see flex pugs spring up in a month. Even that is more social than LFR. (Source)
We will see how it will work out. I would love flex to be successfull.
Give it a few weeks for players to learn the fights and let us know how it goes. (Source)
I really have to agree here, it feels like being punished for only being able to run LFR
It's a carrot. If you can get every reward from LFR there is much less motivation to play with friends. (Source)
Short term, we get that solo is a big convenience. Long term, we think it drives players away from the game. (Source)
Your fixation on "organized gameplay" is scary, even if it is just not successfull at all.
It's a multiplayer game. Organized gameplay is it's heart and soul. (Source)
playing is it's heart and soul. And please tell me which letter in MMORPG stands for organized
The second one, as I said. If you ignore all those other players or treat them as NPCs then why not play Skyrim or something? (Source)
I would have to agree that LFR is in a weird place. It is fun for everybody to see it once or twice but then it gets old. fast
Some motivation to perform would go a long way. Currently success is nearly guaranteed whether you are paying attention or not. (Source)
I don't think we could make LFR so challenging that you have to perform well, but there are other approaches. (Source)
Items
Could you disable the chance for TF items to drop until after world first H clears? Or maybe "non-raid" patches.
Getting a weapon vs not during world first > getting a TF weapon vs non TF weapon. (Source)
Can you address 10m vs. 25m thunderforged loot? 10m almost never gets the drops they can use in TF form.
Ten has so many other benefits though. Doesn't 25 get to have a few? (Source)
weapons tend to be the biggest problem - can we just not have TF weapons at all?
It makes me sad to talk about removing the most exciting, powerful drops just because players can't count on getting them. (Source)
If I can't count on getting the best drops, that's fine. If Method can't, then something is wrong with the system
Method is affected far more by whether a weapon drops period than whether a TF one does. (Source)
They are going to clear the zone with very few drops per boss period. They may have raiders with 1-2 heroic pieces at first. (Source)
Why is that? NA Subs don't want harder bosses in 25 and gear separation? I miss how the loot diff was separate in 25.
We locked 10 and 25 based on burnout complaints from NA/EU but Asia had a strong tradition of running both, so they still can. (Source)
Note that I am generalizing regions here. No doubt there are burned out Chinese or NA/EU players who want to raid more a week. (Source)
ilvl jumps between tiers are insanely huge. why did you guys think this was a good idea?
Otherwise raiders can't improve their gear every week to beat new bosses. (Source)
We have also found, through feedback, that 13-19 ilevels of power feels, psychologically, like a noticeable increase. (Source)
PvE
Why not remove enrage timers from bosses in normal modes? WoW has too many guides for maxing DPS. This would help reduce that.
The timers are pretty relaxed in 5.2 compared to 5.0. Without them, risk of normal guilds bringing 10 healers and nearly no DPS. (Source)
You disguise "We were wrong" as "Were trying something else" though. Cant remember you ever saying you were wrong
We were wrong to make the DMF trinkets so powerful without giving them an appropriate ilevel to communicate that intent. (Source)
We were wrong to put so much emphasis on daily quests that locked gear in 5.0. (Source)
We were wrong to make Cataclysm dungeons hard without offering any alternative for the LFD crowd. (Source)
I'd like to see 4 difficulties for dungeons. Leveling, Max Level, Heroic Max Level, and Challenge. Epics for H mode like TBC.
Yeah, we think tough heroics could work so long as they aren't the only route to gearing for LFR and flex raiding. (Source)
I would be really pleased, knowing that I can be staisfied with 300 points in a busy week, and 1700 when I'm off duty.
Yeah the challenge is that if some players earned 1700 a week, others would think that's what they had to do to keep up. (Source)
why not put a cap limit on spending instead of gaining like lesser charms
I said a few weeks ago that a spending cap has potential. It just needs bulletproofing (example: We offer refunds). (Source)
LK model worked well here. Lots of new content addressed 11 geared toons now what syndrome. Not sustainable?
We saw the alt explosion in the ICC and DS tiers though. Guess which equivalent tier hasn't shipped yet. (Source)
so, unh, isn't it a little backwards to do so much raid testing before the tuning pass is done?
The raid testing helps us with the tuning and also with the raid mechanics (and fun) in general. (Source)
There will be plenty of raid tests with stable numbers as well. (Source)
Do you think that perhaps many people are intimidated by raiding guilds, and prefer to see content on own terms
I'm not sure that's common. You don't need to be in a hardcore guild to be in a fun guild that still raids (or not even). (Source)
Please don't even consider normal raids for flex. It's the last thing I really enjoy in this game, it's fine the way it is.
You aren't ever sad when you have to turn someone away or cancel a raid when too few show? That's the strength of flex. (Source)
with the celestials been the new nalak/sha. are the loot tables linked i.e. kill one thats it or 4 chances for loot
it's one a week. Pick which one you want to fight. (Source)
So to be clear, they all share the same loot-lockout and loot table?
Yes. (Source)
Have you guys ever considered/talked about, making your own verison, or possibly working with the guys from WoWProgress?
We would have to make a lot of hard calls, like whether skipping the 2nd boss to kill the 4th and 5th is more or less progress. (Source)
Fan Art
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