Build of the Month
Recent Blue Posts
Limited PvP -> PvE Free Character Transfers
The Cataclysm Classic Pre-Expansion Patch Arrives April 30
Recent Forum Posts
Why is it so hard to find a Mythic raiding guild that isn't full of toxic people?
New Info On 2.0.5 Changes and Bugs, Scheduled Game Maintenance, Anniversary Dev Stream VOD, [Video] Opening 170 Horadric Caches
Deck Wars S1 Finals This Weekend, Funny and Lucky Moments 44, Soulbound Recruitment
Heroes Dev Q&A on May 20th - Talent Changes, UI Improvements, Hero RedesignWarlords of Draenor - Alpha Delay
Zarhym shared a little bit more on why Alpha is taking so long to be released.
World of Warcraft Designer Notes
Over the past few months, Mumper has been sharing notes from older content, such as Death Knight class design notes, as well as layouts for Dalaran, Naxx, Tol Barad, Shadowmoon Valley, and Tempest Keep.
Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
We have been, and are continuing to make, significant widespread changes to damage and healing amounts. (Celestalon)
.On a related note, everyone, when you see datamining of the next build, DON'T FREAK OUT. We're doing things to adjust... (Celestalon)
....damage across the board for the 6.0 numbers, and that includes reducing a *ton* of numbers. Fear not, we'll balance it. (Celestalon)
Will such datamining be "soon" or today?
I have no idea when the next dataminable build will go up; could be any day. (Celestalon)
Are classes being reviewed holistically or round-robin? Are their any still on the to-do list? What are you working on atm?
It's actually rather free-form. Some things are a "Go down the list and make sure this is good for every spec." Some are... (Celestalon)
...more like "We're getting a lot of feedback about this spell/passive/rotation/whatever. Lets discuss potential changes." (Celestalon)
Things I'm actively working on atm include mostly the spell visual filtering, along with design and implementation of... (Celestalon)
...a couple potential changes to Ursa Major, Blood AM, and Moonkin rotation. We work very collaboratively as a team, too. (Celestalon)
NOTE: Emphasis on *potential*. We try out ideas for potential changes all the time, and don't always go with them. (Celestalon)
And will we get your fancy new spell effect filtering in 6.0, or we have to wait for WoD? :3 Swapping 10 -> 25 really hurts atm!
6.0. (Celestalon)
i have aa high end, i dont need any visual reduction.
A) You do, for gameplay clarity reasons, not FPS performance reasons. B) Yes, it'll be an option. (Celestalon)
totally agree."hybrid" used to mean something.now raid cds are taken away from hybrids and given to pure dps?
The way you're wording it makes it sound like we're removing all of it. That's not the case. If you imagine each spec's... (Celestalon)
...stackable raid utility as a digit, we're changing the world from "1122334444555555566" to "2222222222222222222". Make sense? (Celestalon)
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Is Necrotic Strike really absorbing 100% of attack power in WOD instead of 225% on live ? Or is the tooltip still bugged in WOD
What "100% of Attack Power" means has changed. Formulae aren't comparably like that between 5.4 and 6.0. (Celestalon)
Yep, I know, 100% in WOD is like 50% on live. So 100% NS comared to 225% on live is like a 4/5 nerf !
It's simply not that simple. Rest assured, it won't be a useless button, as you fear. (Celestalon)
still feel like the level 75 (soon 60) dk talents are the worst in game. No other class requires talents for resource generation
Why does it matter to you whether a core part of your gameplay comes from talents or from baseline skills? (Celestalon)
it's not as much that as it is that the dk talents aren't compelling in any way. No choices that add depth to our gameplay.
Not sure what you're talking about. Which rune regen talent you take has a big impact on your gameplay, and adds depth. (Celestalon)
yes, they have a big impact on how we play. In that they're required in order for us to not have obscene amounts of downtime.
Curious; I hear talking like this thrown around often, but I'm dubious of how many people even try playing without for comparison. (Celestalon)
you ever tried leveling a dk now from scratch? The difference is immediate, noticeable, and immense.
Yes, and that has a ton to do with gear and abilities available as well. Fact is, that row accounts for about 10-15% of your GCDs. (Celestalon)
And that's big, certainly, especially feeling-wise, which is why we moved it down to lvl 60 for 6.0. (Celestalon)
I don't think you truly understand DK's. If you don't choose BT you're doing it wrong.
I think you may be confusing "Unholy DKs in PvP" for "All DKs". BT is not used by the majority of DKs, and they're not wrong. (Celestalon)
Will the new Pestilence be usable without a target, like current Blood Boil? A very useful counter against stealth in PvP!
Yes. (Celestalon)
am I going to have to actually use army or us it going back to being a cosmetic thing?
It'll be instant, and worth using, at least on the pull. (Celestalon)
Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Since balance druids tranquility is now so 'small' it does 0 healing what are we supposed to have?
Stampeding Roar, other utility abilities, and a ton of talented utility (especially offhealing). (Celestalon)
Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Hunter 100 talents: Will Focusing Shot trigger Master Marksman for MM? Will master call/spirit bond still work with Lone Wolf?
Focusing Shot will trigger Master Marksman. Master's Call and Spirit Bond will not work without a pet. (Celestalon)
Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Raidwide healing recieved is way too big raid utility (when other dps healing utility gone). Raids will stack mages
Why would they stack Mages? Where's the logic? Your "way too big" seems to be based on hyperbole, not fact. (Celestalon)
Thats my point - stacking Mages will save heal. therefore I take 5-6 Mages as dps and can afford less healer
A 12% increase to healing received is minor. Same as Smoke Bomb. Or Rallying Cry. Or all the others competing. (Celestalon)
But mages already have bloodlust, iceblock, frost ring, etc. Why do they need another?
Bloodlust is not stackable raid utility. It's like being able to give a crit buff. Ice Block and Ring of Frost are... (Celestalon)
...extremely small, in the grand scheme of things, as far as raid utility goes, in most situations. (Celestalon)
With that logic why not give every class a bloodlust? Don't get why mages get love over rogues (who need it)
Because you have raid buffs and debuffs in order to make you stronger in a group, and diversify compositions. (Celestalon)
The problem is that you give a DPS a stackable raidwide "Heal-Support" skill like Amplify Magic for Mages...
Yes, we give them a small one, because they had none, and lower everyone else down to equally small. (Celestalon)
The mirror images will get their spell power increase but will they get health/resist as well? For more survivability.
Yes. (Celestalon)
Any chance we see a variation of Cone of Cold for arcane? Maybe "Arcane Pulse" - Push back and increased dmg?
Arcane's AoE is naturally a short range instant; too much overlap. Supernova is somewhat similar to what you describe. (Celestalon)
Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Is there any chance for Glyph of Touch of Death and Glyph of Touch of Karma to become baseline in WoD? They kinda feel mandatory
Glyph of Touch of Death is a kiss/curse; definitely not mandatory, at all. Glyph of Touch of Karma is strong, especially in Arenas. (Celestalon)
Also i don't see how to use Karma while being slowed, rooted or feared to china. That Glyph is a must have, no room for decision
In many cases, those are bad times to use ToK anyway. (Celestalon)
How should i get off a ToK against a ranged then? I'd like to set it on my target not some rnd pet standing next to me.
Presumably, the same way you punch that ranged. (Celestalon)
any chance that chi torpedo be changed for ww to be something competitive with rjw and xuen?
Chi Torpedo is lacking for everyone, since RJW was changed to its current version. We're considering potential changes. (Celestalon)
Why does BrM taunt have 10y longer range and have the movement on application?
Why not? (WatcherDev)
Taunt is simple ability. Why would 1 out of 5 taunts be better in every way?
Brewmasters have the best taunt (though I could see someone saying DKs do). Doesn't mean they're the best tank. (WatcherDev)
Problem with that is it takes 2 globals for monks to do as much ST healing as other healers do in 1.
Not actually. Soothing only has a 0.5sec GCD. (Celestalon)
well this is new, it will still take longer to switch targets after a surging though
If you're only doing 1 Surging, perhaps. It also is more front loaded. (Celestalon)
Won't just 1 surging be fairly common though in world where spot healing is necessary and encouraged?
Soothing would be better in this case. Surging on top if you really have to. And of course Renewing. (Celestalon)
Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Any changes being discussed about AoW for Rets? Worried that if exo is low priority again that it'll be an unused proc again.
Kinda confused about why people focus on AoW; it's just Exo that's weak, nothing specific to AoW. Just a tuning issue. (Celestalon)
If it's just a tuning issue why wasn't there a hotfix on it?
Because we didn't want to change Ret's rotation through a hotfix. (Celestalon)
Not rebalancing classes through hotfixes "mid xpack" feels lazy from your part. Hello Disc... zzzZzzZz
Mid-expansion is different from mid-patch. (Celestalon)
You changed Kil'jaeden's cunning. Sure it's a talent but it affected their rotation. I know exo...
Yes, in a patch, not a hotfix. (Celestalon)
Priest (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
spriest Halo fix? Specific addon + guess work isn't nice. Against blizz spell design as well? Make it more forgiving pls?
It's actually extremely forgiving. We've never found the addon to be mandatory or even a noticeable gain. You get ~max effect... (Celestalon)
...in a really large coverage area. Offhand, I think it's something like you get within 5% of max between 20 and 28 yd. (Celestalon)
Or do you really think that removing the DR cap on the L90 talents was a good move?
We've talked about this previously. I've said that uncapping Priest L90 talents was a huge mistake. (Celestalon)
Leaving it KNOWING it is completly OP for Disc for half year (+?) is a mistake you are aware of but ignore!
It's a mistake that would be wrong to fix at this point. (Celestalon)
Rogue (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
How will subtlety rogues be able to use non-dagger weapons if backstab is here to stay and meant to be superior to hemo?
They won't. (Celestalon)
I agree to some extent, I believe if ShadowStep was on a 15-16 second cd it would on par with BoS and more competitive
it's ironic as BoS was buffed to keep up with Shadowstep...which used to be a 24 second cooldown (holinka)
The current numbers imply BS will be much more superior to Hemo in WoD compared to now.
I believe that in the current build you have, the tuning for Backstabbing and Ambush may be swapped (Celestalon)
Shaman (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Has Elemental Blast becoming baseline for Elemental been discussed? And what are your thoughts for and against it?
It's been discussed. We want to leave the baseline rotation simpler, and allow you to choose to talent into more complexity. (Celestalon)
Can you explain how the "Improved Healing Rain" Draenor perk works? Does it buff heals from casting Shaman or all healing taken
Just the casting Shaman. (Celestalon)
Will base healing numbers be balanced assuming target is in an HR and lower than other healers outside one or is it a true buff?
It's all relative. You'll be balanced around *some* usage of all of your tools. Otherwise, you wouldn't have them. (Celestalon)
Warlock (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
is the lack of blue tweets regarding warlocks as reported on MMO-Champion due to lack of questions on Twitter? Or smthg else?
I haven't been counting number of tweets I make per class; would rather not tweet than bother with that. Warlocks got a ton of... (Celestalon)
...change in Mists, and so are getting less that others in Warlords. So, less to talk about. Happy to answer questions; not ignoring. (Celestalon)
I'm just getting the impression it's: "If it isn't used in a raid, cut it." The outside world matters to us too.
That's definitely not the guiding philosophy. In any case, Soulshatter is something we're taking a close look at. (WatcherDev)
Warlords of Draenor Stats
will the stats reduction affect at soloing old raids?
No, you'll still be able to solo old raids just as well as before, if not easier. (Celestalon)
Reputation / Questing
How about change quest item getting while in raid group? How raid on different continent can help me get 10 quest items faster?
We're looking into a solution for this - it's a real nuisance if you want to quest while waiting for a raid to fill or RBG queue (WatcherDev)
Warlords of Draenor
Curious what the biggest bottleneck in expansion production tends to be? Art, class design, tech or programming?
We tend to shape our workload around what resources we have, and vice versa. Production aims to have the answer be 'All equally'. (Celestalon)
We have been, and are continuing to make, significant widespread changes to damage and healing amounts. (Celestalon)
.On a related note, everyone, when you see datamining of the next build, DON'T FREAK OUT. We're doing things to adjust... (Celestalon)
....damage across the board for the 6.0 numbers, and that includes reducing a *ton* of numbers. Fear not, we'll balance it. (Celestalon)
Will such datamining be "soon" or today?
I have no idea when the next dataminable build will go up; could be any day. (Celestalon)
Are classes being reviewed holistically or round-robin? Are their any still on the to-do list? What are you working on atm?
It's actually rather free-form. Some things are a "Go down the list and make sure this is good for every spec." Some are... (Celestalon)
...more like "We're getting a lot of feedback about this spell/passive/rotation/whatever. Lets discuss potential changes." (Celestalon)
Things I'm actively working on atm include mostly the spell visual filtering, along with design and implementation of... (Celestalon)
...a couple potential changes to Ursa Major, Blood AM, and Moonkin rotation. We work very collaboratively as a team, too. (Celestalon)
NOTE: Emphasis on *potential*. We try out ideas for potential changes all the time, and don't always go with them. (Celestalon)
And will we get your fancy new spell effect filtering in 6.0, or we have to wait for WoD? :3 Swapping 10 -> 25 really hurts atm!
6.0. (Celestalon)
i have aa high end, i dont need any visual reduction.
A) You do, for gameplay clarity reasons, not FPS performance reasons. B) Yes, it'll be an option. (Celestalon)
totally agree."hybrid" used to mean something.now raid cds are taken away from hybrids and given to pure dps?
The way you're wording it makes it sound like we're removing all of it. That's not the case. If you imagine each spec's... (Celestalon)
...stackable raid utility as a digit, we're changing the world from "1122334444555555566" to "2222222222222222222". Make sense? (Celestalon)
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Is Necrotic Strike really absorbing 100% of attack power in WOD instead of 225% on live ? Or is the tooltip still bugged in WOD
What "100% of Attack Power" means has changed. Formulae aren't comparably like that between 5.4 and 6.0. (Celestalon)
Yep, I know, 100% in WOD is like 50% on live. So 100% NS comared to 225% on live is like a 4/5 nerf !
It's simply not that simple. Rest assured, it won't be a useless button, as you fear. (Celestalon)
still feel like the level 75 (soon 60) dk talents are the worst in game. No other class requires talents for resource generation
Why does it matter to you whether a core part of your gameplay comes from talents or from baseline skills? (Celestalon)
it's not as much that as it is that the dk talents aren't compelling in any way. No choices that add depth to our gameplay.
Not sure what you're talking about. Which rune regen talent you take has a big impact on your gameplay, and adds depth. (Celestalon)
yes, they have a big impact on how we play. In that they're required in order for us to not have obscene amounts of downtime.
Curious; I hear talking like this thrown around often, but I'm dubious of how many people even try playing without for comparison. (Celestalon)
you ever tried leveling a dk now from scratch? The difference is immediate, noticeable, and immense.
Yes, and that has a ton to do with gear and abilities available as well. Fact is, that row accounts for about 10-15% of your GCDs. (Celestalon)
And that's big, certainly, especially feeling-wise, which is why we moved it down to lvl 60 for 6.0. (Celestalon)
I don't think you truly understand DK's. If you don't choose BT you're doing it wrong.
I think you may be confusing "Unholy DKs in PvP" for "All DKs". BT is not used by the majority of DKs, and they're not wrong. (Celestalon)
Will the new Pestilence be usable without a target, like current Blood Boil? A very useful counter against stealth in PvP!
Yes. (Celestalon)
am I going to have to actually use army or us it going back to being a cosmetic thing?
It'll be instant, and worth using, at least on the pull. (Celestalon)
Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Since balance druids tranquility is now so 'small' it does 0 healing what are we supposed to have?
Stampeding Roar, other utility abilities, and a ton of talented utility (especially offhealing). (Celestalon)
Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Hunter 100 talents: Will Focusing Shot trigger Master Marksman for MM? Will master call/spirit bond still work with Lone Wolf?
Focusing Shot will trigger Master Marksman. Master's Call and Spirit Bond will not work without a pet. (Celestalon)
Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Raidwide healing recieved is way too big raid utility (when other dps healing utility gone). Raids will stack mages
Why would they stack Mages? Where's the logic? Your "way too big" seems to be based on hyperbole, not fact. (Celestalon)
Thats my point - stacking Mages will save heal. therefore I take 5-6 Mages as dps and can afford less healer
A 12% increase to healing received is minor. Same as Smoke Bomb. Or Rallying Cry. Or all the others competing. (Celestalon)
But mages already have bloodlust, iceblock, frost ring, etc. Why do they need another?
Bloodlust is not stackable raid utility. It's like being able to give a crit buff. Ice Block and Ring of Frost are... (Celestalon)
...extremely small, in the grand scheme of things, as far as raid utility goes, in most situations. (Celestalon)
With that logic why not give every class a bloodlust? Don't get why mages get love over rogues (who need it)
Because you have raid buffs and debuffs in order to make you stronger in a group, and diversify compositions. (Celestalon)
The problem is that you give a DPS a stackable raidwide "Heal-Support" skill like Amplify Magic for Mages...
Yes, we give them a small one, because they had none, and lower everyone else down to equally small. (Celestalon)
The mirror images will get their spell power increase but will they get health/resist as well? For more survivability.
Yes. (Celestalon)
Any chance we see a variation of Cone of Cold for arcane? Maybe "Arcane Pulse" - Push back and increased dmg?
Arcane's AoE is naturally a short range instant; too much overlap. Supernova is somewhat similar to what you describe. (Celestalon)
Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Is there any chance for Glyph of Touch of Death and Glyph of Touch of Karma to become baseline in WoD? They kinda feel mandatory
Glyph of Touch of Death is a kiss/curse; definitely not mandatory, at all. Glyph of Touch of Karma is strong, especially in Arenas. (Celestalon)
Also i don't see how to use Karma while being slowed, rooted or feared to china. That Glyph is a must have, no room for decision
In many cases, those are bad times to use ToK anyway. (Celestalon)
How should i get off a ToK against a ranged then? I'd like to set it on my target not some rnd pet standing next to me.
Presumably, the same way you punch that ranged. (Celestalon)
any chance that chi torpedo be changed for ww to be something competitive with rjw and xuen?
Chi Torpedo is lacking for everyone, since RJW was changed to its current version. We're considering potential changes. (Celestalon)
Why does BrM taunt have 10y longer range and have the movement on application?
Why not? (WatcherDev)
Taunt is simple ability. Why would 1 out of 5 taunts be better in every way?
Brewmasters have the best taunt (though I could see someone saying DKs do). Doesn't mean they're the best tank. (WatcherDev)
Problem with that is it takes 2 globals for monks to do as much ST healing as other healers do in 1.
Not actually. Soothing only has a 0.5sec GCD. (Celestalon)
well this is new, it will still take longer to switch targets after a surging though
If you're only doing 1 Surging, perhaps. It also is more front loaded. (Celestalon)
Won't just 1 surging be fairly common though in world where spot healing is necessary and encouraged?
Soothing would be better in this case. Surging on top if you really have to. And of course Renewing. (Celestalon)
Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Any changes being discussed about AoW for Rets? Worried that if exo is low priority again that it'll be an unused proc again.
Kinda confused about why people focus on AoW; it's just Exo that's weak, nothing specific to AoW. Just a tuning issue. (Celestalon)
If it's just a tuning issue why wasn't there a hotfix on it?
Because we didn't want to change Ret's rotation through a hotfix. (Celestalon)
Not rebalancing classes through hotfixes "mid xpack" feels lazy from your part. Hello Disc... zzzZzzZz
Mid-expansion is different from mid-patch. (Celestalon)
You changed Kil'jaeden's cunning. Sure it's a talent but it affected their rotation. I know exo...
Yes, in a patch, not a hotfix. (Celestalon)
Priest (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)spriest Halo fix? Specific addon + guess work isn't nice. Against blizz spell design as well? Make it more forgiving pls?
It's actually extremely forgiving. We've never found the addon to be mandatory or even a noticeable gain. You get ~max effect... (Celestalon)
...in a really large coverage area. Offhand, I think it's something like you get within 5% of max between 20 and 28 yd. (Celestalon)
Or do you really think that removing the DR cap on the L90 talents was a good move?
We've talked about this previously. I've said that uncapping Priest L90 talents was a huge mistake. (Celestalon)
Leaving it KNOWING it is completly OP for Disc for half year (+?) is a mistake you are aware of but ignore!
It's a mistake that would be wrong to fix at this point. (Celestalon)
Rogue (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)How will subtlety rogues be able to use non-dagger weapons if backstab is here to stay and meant to be superior to hemo?
They won't. (Celestalon)
I agree to some extent, I believe if ShadowStep was on a 15-16 second cd it would on par with BoS and more competitive
it's ironic as BoS was buffed to keep up with Shadowstep...which used to be a 24 second cooldown (holinka)
The current numbers imply BS will be much more superior to Hemo in WoD compared to now.
I believe that in the current build you have, the tuning for Backstabbing and Ambush may be swapped (Celestalon)
Shaman (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Has Elemental Blast becoming baseline for Elemental been discussed? And what are your thoughts for and against it?
It's been discussed. We want to leave the baseline rotation simpler, and allow you to choose to talent into more complexity. (Celestalon)
Can you explain how the "Improved Healing Rain" Draenor perk works? Does it buff heals from casting Shaman or all healing taken
Just the casting Shaman. (Celestalon)
Will base healing numbers be balanced assuming target is in an HR and lower than other healers outside one or is it a true buff?
It's all relative. You'll be balanced around *some* usage of all of your tools. Otherwise, you wouldn't have them. (Celestalon)
Warlock (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)is the lack of blue tweets regarding warlocks as reported on MMO-Champion due to lack of questions on Twitter? Or smthg else?
I haven't been counting number of tweets I make per class; would rather not tweet than bother with that. Warlocks got a ton of... (Celestalon)
...change in Mists, and so are getting less that others in Warlords. So, less to talk about. Happy to answer questions; not ignoring. (Celestalon)
I'm just getting the impression it's: "If it isn't used in a raid, cut it." The outside world matters to us too.
That's definitely not the guiding philosophy. In any case, Soulshatter is something we're taking a close look at. (WatcherDev)
Warlords of Draenor Stats
will the stats reduction affect at soloing old raids?
No, you'll still be able to solo old raids just as well as before, if not easier. (Celestalon)
Reputation / Questing
How about change quest item getting while in raid group? How raid on different continent can help me get 10 quest items faster?
We're looking into a solution for this - it's a real nuisance if you want to quest while waiting for a raid to fill or RBG queue (WatcherDev)
Warlords of Draenor
Curious what the biggest bottleneck in expansion production tends to be? Art, class design, tech or programming?
We tend to shape our workload around what resources we have, and vice versa. Production aims to have the answer be 'All equally'. (Celestalon)
Fan Art - Night Elf Model Edits
Some fun edits of the new Night Elf Female character model have popped up in on the forums.
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