WoD Dev Interviews, Blizzard at PAX East, Blue Tweets, War Crimes Preview, DLC #432

BlizzCon 2014, The AH Shutting Down In a Few Hours, Blizzard Takes PAX East by Storm, Building a Hero: Crusader Skill Design

Top 5 Plays of the Week, Hearthstone Day Dev Q&A Notes

Hero Intro Questions, Talent System Dev Q&A on Wednesday, New Heroes Unveiled at PAX East

Warlords of Draenor Developer Interviews
PvP Live had the opportunity to interview Holinka and Kim Phan this weekend during their PvP Tournament.


eSports
  • Blizzard is always looking to make WoW a better esport.
  • Right now the team mostly focuses on 3v3 arenas, but they want to hear what the community wants in regards to eSports, in PvP or otherwise.
  • Arenas are a big part of what makes WoW an eSport, but there may be other parts of WoW that players would also be interested in. For example, some players enjoy the Live Raid at Blizzcon.
  • Other partners have reached out to Blizzard to see what tools they are putting in place to support eSports, including MLG.
  • PvP can be hard to watch, especially with TDM being much faster in other games. In WoW, it can take 15 minutes for someone to die or something exciting to happen, which is a long time for someone watching that isn't very familiar with the game. This can be partially mitigated by casters keeping viewers informed with what is going on and why.
  • The game has to be fun to play before it can be fun to watch. The next step is having tools that make it easier to watch, such as spectator mode.
  • The devs are looking at the smaller things they can do to grow the WoW eSports community.

Spectator Mode
  • Being able to set the time before Dampening activates in Spectator Mode games isn't planned right now, as having inconsistent rules would make arenas harder to watch.
  • The addition of spectator mode for Warlords of Draenor arenas being one example of something the community has been requesting for a long time that is finally being added.

PvP in Warlords of Draenor
  • If the team makes a balance change, players get upset about the changes that were made. If they don't make any balance changes, people complain that the game is starting to feel stale.
  • The team has been trying to increase the participation in PvP, without hurting the game that people already doing PvP love.
  • The way that CC and DR works is hidden to many players, but it is also one of the important parts of competitive PvP. The team would like to make them less complex, as complexity is good when it adds depth, but not good when complexity exists for no reason.
  • The PvP game is going to feel very new and different in Warlords of Draenor, almost starting from scratch with balance. This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback.

Holinka
  • Holinka does rated battlegrounds and arenas most days of the week, as well as some arenas at lunch almost every day.
  • He also plays other games as time permits, such as Titanfall and Stick of Truth. There are lessons to be learned from playing other games.
  • He had 6 characters and 8 specs that he played last season, so he understands the effort it takes to cap on alts.

Blizzard at PAX East
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Grab your gear and saddle up, because we’re headed to PAX East!

PAX attendees should ready themselves for three days of demon slaying, sword swinging, hero playing, and card slinging awesomeness, as this year we’ll be featuring all-new builds for our most recent and upcoming games, hands-on time at demo stations, an epic developer panel, and awesome giveaways and prizes. Come by and check everything out at BOOTH #848! We’ll be there from 10AM to 6PM, Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13.

Here’s what you can expect at this year’s Blizzard booth:

  • Warlords of Draenor hands-on demo featuring updated character models and the intro experience for the upcoming expansion.
  • Hands-on time with the in-development Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, playable on PlayStation 4.
  • A chance to find out what’s in the cards for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and play the mobile version on iPad.
  • A brand-new demo for Heroes of the Storm, featuring new Heroes playable for the first time anywhere outside of Blizzard.
  • Blizzard developers will be on-hand to chat about your favorite games.
  • Blizzard developers will also be giving a presentation at the Albatross Theatre on Friday, April 11 at 10:30 a.m. EDT titled Heroes of the Storm: The Ultimate Blizzard Mashup (streamed live on one of the official PAX Twitch channels for those not in attendance).
  • And did we mention there will be giveaways, prizes, and more? If not . . . there will be giveaways, prizes, and more!

Head on over to east.paxsite.com for panel schedules and hotel and travel information.

We hope to see you there!

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
quick question. why cant i use death's advande when using the glyphed version of pillar of frost...?
20 seconds of CC immunity with no downside is too good. (holinka)

Need way to dump RP to AE. Feels like this has always been missing. Most common request for 5.0 and now 6.0.
Sindragosa's Breath. (Celestalon)
Indeed, but cd means it cannot be used to dump RP, and talent means not universal. Many DKs will cont to FrostStrike/DCoil in AE
That's fine. The whole row helps with AoE. Doesn't have to be an RP spender. (Celestalon)

I mean, to a pt that a talent can chng your gameplay ? Bcause with what we can read now, i don't think so and it makes me sad
Yeah, some of the lvl100 talents are pretty significant changes. Necrotic Plague for Unholy = the Festerblight rotation. (Celestalon)
Sindragosa's Breath also changes your rotation quite significantly, primarily for the DPS DKs. Makes you want to pool... (Celestalon)
...RP as it's coming off cooldown, and generate/dump RM as much as you can while it's up, to keep it going as long as poss. (Celestalon)
I feel like it would have to proc rune talents for that to be effective
It does. (Celestalon)
is conversion going to proc them also?
We're thinking about that one still. Possibly. (Celestalon)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
yall nerfing gaurdian druids in PvP or nahh?
You are the first person to ever complain to me about Guardian Druids in PvP (holinka)
really? Theyre incredible good flagcarriers
There's nothing wrong with a class being good at something. (holinka)

The balance druid eclipse mechanic is very clunky, can we do something with it in WoD. Like remove it?
Eclipse is the defining mechanic of Moonkin. Virtually zero chance that we'd remove it. (Celestalon)

Can you tell us if Equinox for balance druids has changed? It sounded too powerful to be true, or Eclipse is lower to fit it in.
Equinox is still in, yep. (Celestalon)

Will there be an glyph for old efflorescence though? The on-demand placeable AoE heal far more valuable in WoD healing model!
Not planning to. Moving your Shroom is still on-demand placeable AoE healing. (Celestalon)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
arcane IS very boring to play and it DOES suffer from movement the MOST. arcane mobility v warlocks\hunters not fair.
Arcane is intentionally very movement inhibited. That's one of its downsides. (Celestalon)

Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Has it been a couple weeks yet? Let's Take A Jab At It has dropped! More WW, MW soon(tm). with http://t.co/D84wRW8Bo1
I think you guys are imagining some huge "us vs the developers" thing that we don't even see as there. There seems to be this misconception that we are saying "You guys are doing it all wrong, and could be doing WAY more damage!" or something. Saying that we are telling you avoid haste like the plague is just strawmanning. I think this all started when there was some really silly bad theorycraft going around in like 5.1 or 5.2 that said to take Ascension, max max MAX haste, and don't use FoF or EB at all. That was quite wrong, and we pointed out, then words have been put in our mouth since then. Result is, haste/crit/mastery are all really close, and we've seen top performance with each, as long as you don't energy cap, and make good use of FoF/EB.Future of FoF: If +30% dmg will make you satisfied... you'll be elated. (Celestalon)
.Do you think the lack of lots of other high secondary stats stems from lack of wanting to try them? Or follow the leader?
Following the leader is an incredibly strong effect in our community. Not sure what you're referring to exactly here though. (Celestalon)

Why is orb spam being removed not mentioned. Its the only burst heal instant monk got not tied to big cds
...except for Surging Mist, right? Remember that retuning is happening. Surging is lackluster in 5.4, won't be in 6.0. (Celestalon)

Are fistweavers and windwalkers (or melee in general?) supposed to attract desecrated weapon on garrosh?
It's distance-based, not spec-based. (WatcherDev)

War Crimes Novel Sneak Peek
You can find an excerpt from the War Crimes novel here.


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The brutal siege of Orgrimmar may be over, but Garrosh Hellscream, the most infamous orc on Azeroth, has yet to face justice. Bound in chains by his enemies, the deposed tyrant of the Horde must now answer for his crimes. Alongside renowned leaders from across Azeroth, you will bear witness to his long-awaited trial.

Visions of Garrosh’s past atrocities are presented in vivid detail for all to see. But as history is revisited, old grievances and bitter memories come to light, and those in attendance begin to wonder if anyone among them is truly innocent. Mounting tensions and rising enmity steer the court to the brink of chaos . . . as the world waits with bated breath for the verdict on the war crimes of Garrosh Hellscream.

War Crimes, the new World of Warcraft novel by author Christie Golden, follows the dramatic events that grip Azeroth in the wake of the siege of Orgrimmar . . . and delves into long-buried secrets that may have been best left uncovered. Pre-order now and you can be one of the first to learn just what the future holds for the residents of Azeroth and the recently dethroned warchief of the Horde.

Author: Christie Golden
Release: May 2014
Preorder now

Dark Legacy Comics #432
DLC #432 has been released.

This article was originally published in forum thread: WoD Dev Interviews, Blizzard at PAX East, Blue Tweets, War Crimes Preview, DLC #432 started by chaud View original post
Published on 2014-03-18 09:12 AM
60 Comments
Comments 60 Comments
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    The team has been trying to increase the participation in PvP, without hurting the game that people already doing PvP love.
    They've made PvP unpleasant for people who don't do arena or rated BGs.
  1. zehzao's Avatar
    Awesome DLC ...
  1. Wayne25uk's Avatar
    "This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback."

    I dont agree with this statement at all,i think you should ask people of all skill because even the worst of arena players can give valuable feedback to the arena system,its basically like asking all the rich people in your country what they should do about the poor,your going to get a one sided answer.
  1. Siddown's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne25uk View Post
    "This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback."

    I dont agree with this statement at all,i think you should ask people of all skill because even the worst of arena players can give valuable feedback to the arena system,its basically like asking all the rich people in your country what they should do about the poor,your going to get a one sided answer.
    The problem with asking a lot of lower skill based people is they tend to blame everything on class imbalance or random causes. Sure, some higher level players are like that too, but I think a lot of players suffering from the Dunning Kruger Effect and rarely look at themselves at the reason for not being very good.

    To find real class imbalance, just look at 2000+ (or 2200+) brackets is a much easier way than asking someone below 1500 why they think they aren't doing very well.

    EDIT: For examples, look at Arms Warriors who complain about being underpowered despite having the highest representation of any spec in S15 (by a fair margin, over double the next closest spec which is crazy), Rogues who complain about not being viable since WoTLK, Druids complaining about not having enough survivability, etc.
  1. Tenjen's Avatar
    people talking about pvp being a joke in relation to esporting. holy cow iam having flashbacks to when Arena first came out.

    And its the same answer as before. wow can be, is and has been an esport but not gone all the way with it. Few esport games are totally well balanced.
  1. Hitei's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Siddown View Post
    The problem with asking a lot of lower skill based people is they tend to blame everything on class imbalance or random causes. Sure, some higher level players are like that too, but I think a lot of players suffering from the Dunning Kruger Effect and rarely look at themselves at the reason for not being very good.

    To find real class imbalance, just look at 2000+ (or 2200+) brackets is a much easier way than asking someone below 1500 why they think they aren't doing very well.
    Right, but it's pointless to try and approach PvP with just the viewpoint of glad-tier players when the majority of people who do PvP aren't that level of player. Something can be very finely balanced for 3v3 and then be entirely broken in say, random BGs where there is less coordination, focusing and lower level gear. It's true that people can often misunderstand the source of their problems in PvP, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to ignore the voice of 95% of the PvPers in the game and make balance choices based on a very small bracket.
  1. mmocceca20d1fe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tenjen View Post
    people talking about pvp being a joke in relation to esporting. holy cow iam having flashbacks to when Arena first came out.

    And its the same answer as before. wow can be, is and has been an esport but not gone all the way with it. Few esport games are totally well balanced.
    WoW PvP is and will stay a joke. Blizzard needs to separate PvE and PvP abilities, fix the CC on GCD and fix the insane healing that some non-healing class are able to do.

    When people hope to have the OP class in PvP at the start of each season, you know there is something completely wrong with the current state of PvP.
  1. Daez's Avatar
    I like the DLC but this blaming the instant 90s is pretty annoying. This game does not really take years to learn. Leveling does very little to help you learn your class at 90. Either you are derp and cannot learn or you are not. People were derp all the way back to Vanilla, before instant 90 and even 90 existed.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Barnabas View Post
    Holinka has a lot of time on his hands to play wow that much. Maybe he should actually work for once. :P Spectator mode will be awesome.
    Not to mention. Some really good games have been really, really screwed up by listening to one player or even multiple players when making design decisions. Whatever this persons favorite class and PVP spec is has a very good chance of being extremely OPed, and whatever he enjoys doing is probably going to get the most attention. Forget about the other millions of people that PVP.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by grexly75 View Post
    Lol you didn't like the DLC.. I have found this one and many of the others hilarious, loved how they poked fun at the new 90 boost..
    It was good, but it just gets old hearing people (normally the people doing the absolute worst performance) complaining about instant 90s in LFR before they rage quit. People acting like people weren't capable of suck before instant 90 is just a joke!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    They've made PvP unpleasant for people who don't do arena or rated BGs.
    Which really means they made this game even more guild reliant. The vast majority of good activities in this game are guild reliant. What happens when you do not want to be in a guild because you really do not want to be bossed around by some 21 year old kid stroking his epeen? If Blizzard really wanted to focus on this game they would leave guilds as social places for the majority of players and raiding for the dedicated hardcore few. Then every single activity would be capable of random matching. Not having random matching for activities (Heroic Scenarios, Challenge Modes, Rated BGs, Arenas) is what really messes up the social aspect of this game to begin with. Not being able to group with people you do not know to get things accomplished really changes this game into a very clique aspect and that aspect drives new players out of the game when they do not meet the "right" people.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Siddown View Post
    To find real class imbalance, just look at 2000+ (or 2200+) brackets is a much easier way than asking someone below 1500 why they think they aren't doing very well.
    Except... that is not the question they are asking. What they are asking is why do you not want to PVP? Why can't you get in on this little eSport that we waste development time on that could be better used elsewhere. They completely understand that the majority of the players are not going to PVP and a small vocal minority whines enough to get Arenas. Arenas were NEVER a good idea, and Arenas are STILL not a good idea. That has been proven time and time again but Blizzard fails to listen to the various people that have pointed that out. Hopefully, they will destroy Arenas so incredibly badly that they will find a new way to make the game an eSport... It looks like that is where they are already going. Make no doubt about it, the only reason we still even have Arenas is because Blizzard wants sponsorship money when they run eSports. I would rather see a Coca-Cola machine in Orgrimmar personally!
  1. Siddown's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hitei View Post
    Right, but it's pointless to try and approach PvP with just the viewpoint of glad-tier players when the majority of people who do PvP aren't that level of player. Something can be very finely balanced for 3v3 and then be entirely broken in say, random BGs where there is less coordination, focusing and lower level gear. It's true that people can often misunderstand the source of their problems in PvP, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to ignore the voice of 95% of the PvPers in the game and make balance choices based on a very small bracket.
    I agree, but there are other ways to get that data. I imagine the signal v. noise ratio would be a bit low when getting direct reports from that group. I freely admit, I am part of that group, so this isn't elitism on my part.
  1. Swizzle's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne25uk View Post
    "This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback."

    I dont agree with this statement at all,i think you should ask people of all skill because even the worst of arena players can give valuable feedback to the arena system,its basically like asking all the rich people in your country what they should do about the poor,your going to get a one sided answer.
    That's actually a poor and incorrect analogy. The proper way to approach it would be for a president turning to a team of expert economists on how to fix the economy instead of a random high school student.
  1. mmoc1dde548293's Avatar
    There's nothing wrong with a class being good at something
    So much for "When tanks are having fun in pvp others tend not to."

    This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback.
    Great so the win traders and re-rollers get to set pvp policy? pvp will be screwed.
  1. Farabee's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    They've made PvP unpleasant for people who don't do arena or rated BGs.
    I don't think I've heard a statement best sum up PVP in MoP this easily in a long time. The whole "PVP power" thing has just served to make the gear divide between the haves and the have-nots even worse. The crafted gear is a complete joke at this point and the honor gear is barely worth the trouble. You either faceroll in 2v2 until you have enough Conquest to get your gear so you can actually have fun in BGs, or you continue to be cannon fodder for the rest. At least in BC you had half a chance of beating someone in full current-season gear with last tier's stuff. Let's not even get into the difference stuff like heroic warforged weapons make.

    Edit: Also get rid of the stupid restriction on having to earn X amount of points to buy a weapon. People wanna grind honor to get a 522 starter weapon for PVE? let them. People want to grind Conquest and get their weapon first? Let them. There is no reason whatsoever to force people to do something they don't want to do for long periods of time and in the process screw up other people's fun.
  1. ApeDosMil's Avatar
    I wish they'd just collect their data from random bgs, rated bgs, and arenas quietly while never asking for our opinions. They can watch and decide for themselves. Listening to the community too much has lead to some major imbalances and oversights over the years. PvP needs work, but listening to biased commentary has not helped. Horde still win most bgs, because the community cries that they're more "skilled" and we get changes to AV that don't address the actual Alliance favor that the Horde has whined about. Rabble rabble rabble!
  1. alabaster jones's Avatar
    If Blizz had just stuck with the instantly recognisable mechanics/gameplay of capture the flag for it's esports ambitions, it could have had a huge success story on it's hands. The design of arena gameplay means that while it can have it's moments (orange marmalade), the majority of the time, it's very boring to watch.
  1. Aelric70's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Farabee View Post
    I don't think I've heard a statement best sum up PVP in MoP this easily in a long time. The whole "PVP power" thing has just served to make the gear divide between the haves and the have-nots even worse. The crafted gear is a complete joke at this point and the honor gear is barely worth the trouble. You either faceroll in 2v2 until you have enough Conquest to get your gear so you can actually have fun in BGs, or you continue to be cannon fodder for the rest. At least in BC you had half a chance of beating someone in full current-season gear with last tier's stuff. Let's not even get into the difference stuff like heroic warforged weapons make.

    Edit: Also get rid of the stupid restriction on having to earn X amount of points to buy a weapon. People wanna grind honor to get a 522 starter weapon for PVE? let them. People want to grind Conquest and get their weapon first? Let them. There is no reason whatsoever to force people to do something they don't want to do for long periods of time and in the process screw up other people's fun.
    Yeah, there is a good reason. The lazy will flock to BGs for the free 522 wep and skip the RNG of raidfinder completely... Getting their weap way faster than the PVE route. No matter what path you pick, time investment needs to be similar or it nullifies choice. Blizz has made it very clear that this is the intent and reason.
  1. Osmeric's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aelric70 View Post
    Yeah, there is a good reason. The lazy will flock to BGs for the free 522 wep and skip the RNG of raidfinder completely... Getting their weap way faster than the PVE route. No matter what path you pick, time investment needs to be similar or it nullifies choice. Blizz has made it very clear that this is the intent and reason.
    One can get the ilvl 522 weapon this season very quickly. It doesn't take long to earn 7250 honor.
  1. Rioo's Avatar
    WoW PvP will never be an esport. It's just something every developer say because it sounds good.
  1. Schwert's Avatar
    Can we stop asking the top players what /they/ think?

    You know - the sorts of people who make money off this game selling carries and through their streams?
    The 0.001% really does not matter.

    Also MMORPG's are not meant to be e-sports; Stop trying to make WoW one and focus on Hearthstone and HoTS. Please.
    People play RPG for several reasons but one of the biggest round about answers is "character progression"; Maybe if you actually gave people things for doing arenas instead of just locking it to those of us who are 2k+ people wouldn't feel like it's a waste of time.
    (And even then I don't feel like pushing above 2200 anymore because it's Gladiator or bust. Tabard is essentially R1 in the "only bracket they care about" so I don't even count that as something to progress towards.)
  1. Xjev's Avatar
    WoW and e-sports just don't go hand in hand
  1. ApeDosMil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Osmeric View Post
    One can get the ilvl 522 weapon this season very quickly. It doesn't take long to earn 7250 honor.
    What are you people talking about? Who's thinking grinding out bgs for 100 honor a loss, or 250+ a win towards 7250 is the "fast way?" LFR is 15-45 minutes and you maybe have two bosses each tier with weapons you can use. How badly has your RNG been?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Schwert View Post
    Can we stop asking the top players what /they/ think?

    You know - the sorts of people who make money off this game selling carries and through their streams?
    The 0.001% really does not matter.

    Also MMORPG's are not meant to be e-sports; Stop trying to make WoW one and focus on Hearthstone and HoTS. Please.
    People play RPG for several reasons but one of the biggest round about answers is "character progression"; Maybe if you actually gave people things for doing arenas instead of just locking it to those of us who are 2k+ people wouldn't feel like it's a waste of time.
    (And even then I don't feel like pushing above 2200 anymore because it's Gladiator or bust. Tabard is essentially R1 in the "only bracket they care about" so I don't even count that as something to progress towards.)
    Can't agree more. Arenas don't make sense for a rpg. WoW is about playing a role, a class towards some kind of gear progression, and 2-5 players of the 11 classes/34 specs does NOT allow for the spread they created. They shot themselves in the foot with arena, because it forced them to homogenize so that more specs could be competitive on a smaller scale. A scale that makes no sense considering everything.
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