Armory Stats - BG Popularity, Connected Realms, Blue Posts, Blue Tweets, FCM, Poll

New Beta Patch - Class Changes, Difficulty Changes, New Gear Models

NA Maintenance Postponed, Blue Tweets, Blue Posts - Balance & Bugs

Armory Stats - Battleground Popularity
Today we are taking a look at the number of battles for each battleground that took place in the last month. To find these numbers, we compared the number of battles a character had in a December snapshot of data to the number of battles they had in a January snapshot of data.

These numbers come from a character's statistics pane, so any bugs with character statistics will have skewed the results. This means that there isn't any way for us to verify how accurate these numbers are, so do not take them as fact.

The data used today is a sample made up of ~6.9 million level 90 characters. The sample is slightly biased, as players who are not in a guild are less likely to appear in our sample.

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Connected Realms Update - 15/01
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The following connection will need a little more time, and has been re-scheduled:

English Realms
  • (PvP) Bloodfeather and Kor’gall/Burning Steppes/Executus

The following realms are scheduled to be connected next:

English Realms
  • (PvP) Balnazzar and Shattered Halls/Ahn'Qiraj/Trollbane/Talnivarr/Chromaggus/Boulderfist/Daggerspine
  • (RP PvP) Ravenholdt and Scarshield Legion/The Venture Co/Sporeggar

German Realms
  • (PvE) Shattrath and Garrosh/Nozdormu

I've updated the original post, all realm connections went through except Bloodfeather and Kor’gall/Burning Steppes/Executus, which needs a little more time. We'll let you know when that's back on the schedule

If you are on a full realm, and not getting connected, will you receive more char slots then? Or will Blizzard sort this in another way, like merging a dead and a full realm? Seeing as, if you are on a realm getting connected you would be able to play with 22 chars at least (in cases with only two realms being connected), having them all in the same guild etc.
There aren't any plans to give a bunch of extra character slots to folks on non-connected realms to my knowledge, no. In the situation you mentioned with connected realms, the limit per realm is still the same, it's just those characters have a bit more freedom with how they interact with guilds or characters on a different realm (the one they're connected to).

Full realms will not be connected with any other realms, that would just make queues worse.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
PvP Gear in WoD
What matters is that the gear takes the same amount of time (mean, median, and mode), and therefore effort, to acquire regardless of what you do to get it; an instance is an instance is an instance, and what you do in that instance doesn't mean a god-damned thing. Using strict Item Level parity as the benchmark is how you get from here to there.
Of course it matters what you do.

How do you reconcile time investment in the two tasks when they don't require the same of you to complete? How are small group sports analogous to large-team puzzle solving? How is spending a week or weeks wiping on a boss comparable to a matchmade PvP game where you're going against human opponents of similar skill?

Both require mastery of your class and coordination, but you can't cross out the type and manner of gameplay as common denominators and say it doesn't matter. Of course it does. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Login Screen Music
So I was listening to the login music from the past expansions and it seems to me that Blizz uses it as a overture to all the music to the current and the last expansion. Anybody else notice this or am I just nerd raging for no point
In interviews in the past, Russell Brower has discussed how he likes to keep the original idea of the login music (the theming and key elements) and build on it with each new expansion. There's an expectation of hearing a certain style of music that says to people that they're logging in to World of Warcraft. It evokes emotions in many people and so he's said he doesn't want to take that away but instead, enhance and add to it with each of the expansions. If you sit and listen to the whole thing, you'll find that you've ended up on a journey of sorts through World of Warcraft history. It tells you about where you've been and where you are now or are going to depending on where you are in your gameplay. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

A Day in the Life of Blizzard
Would a fly-on-the-wall developer meeting series be possible? Let us see one of the fabled sit downs, if it is very clearly stated that what is being discussed is just ideas maybe the community could handle it.
I can see how something like that would be cool. In reality though experiments like the recent "WoW Source" interviews would be closer to the final product than our weekly CM meetings with the developers. There's a certain production value and level of professionalism we want to achieve with any official Blizzard video, and not only are our meetings very informal, they're meant to accomplish something a little different than any public-facing interview. It's not really in anyone's best interest for us to repurpose those meetings for public consumption.

Nah. I've seen people throw darts to make important decisions before. At least, that's what I hope they're doing. If they're actually thinking about it, we're all in big trouble with the major rework going into WOD.

It's funny to hear blizzard (a multi-billion dollar company) talking about resources. But then again they are so stingy they can't hire a few programmers to fix bugs that have been around since vanilla, and they just recycle content over and over (see hearthstone, diablo 3 etc).

Aka - We only NET about 95 Million dollars per month...Clearly we don't have enough resources for ANYTHING like this...
Reality is often quite a bit more complicated than these clever little narratives devoid of facts people like to conjure up. I wish we could get together and chat about that in greater detail some day. I'm sure the three of you would exercise patience and understanding should the opportunity arise.

Would be awesome to get a real glimpse of what it's like behind the scenes, but I wouldn't believe it.
Sadly, there's quite a bit that can't be shared and/or you would find terribly boring. I've been neck deep in spreadsheets and planning documents as are many others. "Behind the scenes" would involve a lot of photos of people staring at computer screens, sounds of frantic typing, email notifications flickering across the screen, instant messages, and meetings involving spreadsheets and planning documents. There's a lot of work that goes on and not as much shenanigans as some would like to hope for, but as Zarhym said, we do try to give more glimpses into individuals and what they do at Blizzard when we can. We'll keep working toward that end as much as possible for you. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
Was the Elemental Focus buff not actually added? The tool-tip in game still shows 15% instead of 20%
The Elemental and Death Knight buffs won't show up in tooltips until the next patch, unfortunately. It is live though. (Source)
Weird question: Why does it show up in the Aspect of the Hawk-Tooltip? Normally it needs a patch to update it!
Difference in how they're built under the hood, whether they're built to be extensible by other spells or not. (Source)

With the "ability bloat" being removed. Can we expect major / minor rotation changes for classes in WOD?
Some specs may see no rotation changes, others may see significant rotation changes. I wouldn't expect any 'overhauls' though. (Source)
"mages will no longer be able to assign anything to the 3 key as they no longer need that many bindings."
Perhaps I'm odd, but if I were limited to two keybinds, they'd be 2 and 3. Button 1 is always some utility/movement button. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Am I wrong in thinking those dk buffs favor unholy over frost?
Slightly, which helps balance them better. (Source)

Many DKs don't seem to enjoy the awkwardness of Plague Leech. Is it here to stay? many seem to want it to go the way of the dodo
We recognize that some people find it awkward to use, and some don't. That's fine for an optional talent. (Source)

To confirm: Icy Talons was buffed because Frost AoE is in a good place and to keep parity b/w DW & 2h?
That's a decent summary; yeah. It was a knob that affects both DW and 2H fairly evenly, and results in them being closer. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Wheres the moonkin buffs? Aren't we underperforming?
No, Moonkins are performing pretty well right now. Not amazing single target, but still quite good in most situations. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Aye, the hunter buff is just across the board for all hunters. (Source)
So, five out of six tiers in a row for Hawk buffs. Think there might be a bit bigger of an underlying problem, perhaps?
We use Hawk as a buff knob because it's a safe, consistent way to do it, without any unintended sideeffects on rotations. (Source)
I think you mean you use Hawk because hunters do not, dare I say it?, scale well with gear and fall behind as each tier goes on.
Buffing Hawk is a buff to Hunter scaling rate. (Source)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Any plan to give MW a ranged damage dealing chi dump for using with lightning?
Unlikely. CJL is meant primarily to be used in tandem with healing chi spenders. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Not retribution?
No, Retribution is doing fairly well. (Source)

ret still need cast time for rep and TE, does this really balance in PVP for a melee class?
In WoD we're going to alter talents per spec a lot more, but not sure either of those as instant cast with short cooldown is good. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
I like all these dps buffsbut can you nerf disc priests while you're at it?
We discussed this heavily. We prefer not to make nerfs that aren't bugfixes this far into a tier; bad for guilds close to a kill. (Source)
Can we take this to mean that, at SOME point we will get a disc rebalancing? Even if it's not now?
Yes. (Source)

did you forget shadow priest on that list?
Didn't forget Shadow; they're not underperforming. Their performance varies significantly between fights, but overall good. (Source)
hrm, do you think a single target buff would make them too strong on some fights?
Yes, Shadow's pure single target is lower than others, but they still end up doing quite well on average. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Do you feel that warlock pets movement speed is too slow? Seems like a DPS loss to use pets in a target switching fight.
No; how good they are at target switching is a pro/con of different warlock pets. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Warrior Haste: Perhaps we could have it reduce all CDs above 30sec? Original Fury Mastery did something similar.
That's basically what Readiness does. May not be exactly "all CDs above 30sec", but something like that. (Source)

Free Character Migrations Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Update - While Free Character Migrations opened this morning as planned, the page to initiate a transfer is currently and inexplicably inoperable, displaying a maintenance message. We're continuing to investigate the cause, but don't have a current estimate for when the FCMs will be available. We'll provide an update and re-post the announcement on the front page of the site once they are, though.

If you're on one of the source realms listed below, you can move your characters to one of the designated destination realms and avoid the queues -- for free!

By initiating one of these transfers, you will be moving your character to a new realm and home. This is a one-time, one-way move. If you wish to move your character elsewhere, you will need to use the paid transfer service.

  • Area 52 => Turalyon
  • Stormrage => Turalyon
  • Tichondrius => Blackrock
  • Illidan => Blackrock
  • Bleeding Hollow => Korgath
  • Darkspear => Korgath

Please be aware that, due to the unpredictable nature of free transfers, we may close down any Free Character Migrations at any time and without warning if the target realm becomes full. If you plan to move with friends or your guild, we suggest that you coordinate the effort to reduce the chance of any stragglers being left behind.

Early closures aside, this set of Free Character Migrations will end on Wednesday, January 22.

Begin a Free Character Migration now! We recommend reviewing the FAQ, as it details what is or isn't allowed for transferred characters.

Free Character Migrations Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
If you're on one of the source realms listed below, you can move your characters to one of the designated destination realms and avoid the queues—for free!

By initiating one of these transfers, you will be moving your character to a new realm and home. This is a one-time, one-way move. If you wish to move your character elsewhere, you will need to use the paid transfer service.

  • Draenor => Magtheridon
  • Silvermoon => Wildhammer / Kilrogg
  • Kazzak => The Maelstrom
  • Outland => Grim Batol
  • Ragnaros => Grim Batol
  • Stormscale => Grim Batol
  • Sylvanas => Grim Batol
  • Twisting Nether => Grim Batol

Please be aware that, due to the unpredictable nature of free transfers, we may close down any Free Character Migrations at any time and without warning if the target realm becomes full. If you plan to move with friends or your guild, we suggest that you coordinate the effort to reduce the chance of any stragglers being left behind.

Early closures aside, this set of Free Character Migrations will end on Tuesday, January 21.

Begin a Free Character Migration now! We recommend reviewing the FAQ, as it details what is or isn't allowed for transferred characters.

Poll: What is Your Favorite Battleground?
Which battleground is your favorite? Be sure to let us know what you like about it in the comments! (For reasons other than how often you seem to win in it)

This article was originally published in forum thread: Armory Stats - BG Popularity, Connected Realms, Blue Posts, Blue Tweets, FCM, Poll started by chaud View original post
Published on 2014-01-16 05:46 AM
134 Comments
Comments 134 Comments
  1. chaud's Avatar
    While preparing data for another upcoming battleground post, it became clear that most Eye of the Storm wins are still not recorded in your statistics most of the time.

    Unfortunately this bug has been around for five or more years now, but maybe if people ask Holinka nicely we might get an update on it.
  1. Dalanos's Avatar
    How the hell is AV winning this poll?
  1. Icyflamez's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dalanos View Post
    How the hell is AV winning this poll?
    Apparently only Alliance people are voting.
  1. druvirus's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dalanos View Post
    How the hell is AV winning this poll?
    Because AV is the superior Battleground.
  1. Silvertaurus's Avatar
    I wonder if Legendary quest might have influenced the outcome
  1. Darth Belichick's Avatar
    "Buffing Hawk is a buff to Hunter scaling rate"

    This bothers me. He ignored the question and instead said something we know. All our scaling should come from one ability. What other class has a buff that accounts for such a huge part of their damage and scaling?
  1. Neradar's Avatar
    They left one off the voting choices! Old Alterac Valley (before they changed it and it was a 6 hour long battle) lol
  1. chaud's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Icyflamez View Post
    Apparently only Alliance people are voting.
    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sneak peek of Armory Stats from later this week - Alliance won 78% of Level 90 Alterac Valley games (that we tracked) in the last month!</p>&mdash; WoWDB (@WoWDB) <a href="https://twitter.com/WoWDB/statuses/422956396548608000">January 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
    <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
  1. mmoc63282c73c3's Avatar
    As Silvertaurus said, I'm pretty sure the 2 "forced" BGs for the legendary quest have a big weight on this.
  1. Shadowful's Avatar
    AB is best battleground. I have no idea why I like it so much.

    AV sucks, but it's one of the few alliance seem to win a lot so u_u
  1. Deathfouton's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryas View Post
    "Buffing Hawk is a buff to Hunter scaling rate"

    This bothers me. He ignored the question and instead said something we know. All our scaling should come from one ability. What other class has a buff that accounts for such a huge part of their damage and scaling?
    That's kinda a good thing. This has been what has kept hunters consistent for many tiers. Every other class needs all sorts of specific spell retooling and remodeling so that they can compete at all levels, where hunters are scaled properly entirely based off this one buff. It's a very easy fix to all problems hunter related.

    It does pose as a problem when it continually scales up the value of Agility/AP on gear though, at this rate it won't be long before you skip socket bonuses to get agi no matter what.
  1. mmoc8e13fe598c's Avatar
    Really suprized AV is top I personally hate"dislike" it half the time it's zerg fests and not even pvp. Give me the smaller bg's anyday xD
  1. Spellbraker's Avatar
    I voted WSG, but if we are talking about any BG at any time, then it would be BC AV.
  1. Alayea's Avatar
    Alterac Valley, but prefer the original version.
  1. Straamibuu's Avatar
    Personally I love AB and TP the best Even the new DG is up there for me.
  1. vexacus's Avatar
    Old school AV was awesome. now its just a race to the finish.
    WSG = has always been about the luck of the draw(as alliance i always seemed to loose cause horde always had 2 FC, 4 healers and 4 OP dps)
    AB = was also horrible as alliance when not in a premade cause no one cares about defending a base/flag
    EotS = See AB
    IoC = i always liked the complexion of this one cause there is not really 1 way to win. you dont need all people in the BG to pay attention.
    SotA = to many 20 minute draws.
    Twin peak = WSG 2.0
    Battle of Gilneas = same problem as AB. alliance rarely able to cap 2 flag and defend.
    Silvershard Mines = like this one aswell. because you have a decent chance of making a comeback of you just push hard enough. and it's always fun to piss of some horde by changing the track last second.
    Temple of Kotmogu = it's different, and i like different in this case. i personally don't get this one enough when i sign up for a random BG. it's fast paced and you can either have a close battle or get a easy quick win/loose.
    Deepwind Gorge = never done this one cause i simply don't have the time to pvp that much the last few months.
    i gave my vote to temple of kotmogu, but Silvershard is a good 2nd choice and Isle is my 3rd favorite.
  1. roahn the warlock's Avatar
    And lo, the coolest mount in wow, not for looks, but for flight animation. Was ruined
  1. MrKnubbles's Avatar
    I'm surprised that WSG is so high. People just hold onto flags and then fight. That's not fun at all.
  1. mmocf77227e8ed's Avatar
    AV still the best. Even when losing it doesn't infuriate me like the other BGs do.
  1. MakeMeLaugh's Avatar
    Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the iron skyreaver is a store mount.... sigh.
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