Bloodmaul Slag Mines, Connected Realm Updates, Blue Posts and Tweets, Dance Hat

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Warlords of Draenor - Bloodmaul Slag Mines
Our friends over at Fatboss took a look at Bloodmaul Slag Mines today, the only instance currently available in alpha.



Warlords of Draenor - No Silvermoon Update
After yesterday's news that Stormwind may be repaired for Patch 6.0, Mumper also mentioned that Silvermoon is not getting an update.



Warlords of Draenor Alpha Invites
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We're generally not going to provide estimates or dates for when more invites will go out as it is purely based on testing requirements, which can change from day to day. Invites will continue to roll out as needed, in very small amounts to start, and increasing as we near launch. It's worth keeping in mind that test invites overall will be limited, especially in comparison to Mists of Pandaria, where the vast majority of invites were based on the Annual Pass benefits.

EU Connected Realms - Update 6/6
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The following realms are due to be connected next week:

English Realms
  • (PvE) Aggramar and Hellscream
  • (RP) Darkmoon Faire and Earthen Ring

German Realms
  • (PvE) Ambossar and Kargath

The following realms are due to be connected after the realms above:

German Realms
  • (PvE) Ysera and Malorne

Plans for these connections may change at any time. We’ll provide additional updates for future connections here as soon as we can.

US Connected Realms - Update 6/6
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As previously announced, we’ve been working toward connecting realms to increase the number of players on low-population realms, and since then have completed several connections. As a part of our ongoing communication, we wanted to provide you with an update that contains a list of completed realm connections, currently planned connections, and any additional future plans in one convenient location.
*Please note this list does not encompass all potential future connections. Please check back for further updates.

Future Connections
We will be connecting the realms listed below on Thursday, June 12 during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 5 a.m. PDT through approximately 1:00 p.m. PDT. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.

  • Azuremyst and Staghelm
  • Drenden and Arathor
  • Duskwood and Bloodhoof
  • Nagrand and Caelestrasz

We will be connecting the realms listed below on Thursday, June 19 during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 5 a.m. PDT through approximately 1:00 p.m. PDT. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.

  • Blackwater Raiders and Shadow Council
  • Grizzly Hills and Lothar
  • Tanaris and Greymane

We do not have a date for the following realm connections, but will update this post when we do.

  • Alterac Mountains and Balnazzar, Gorgonnash, The Forgotten Coast,and Warsong
  • Gnomeregan and Moonrunner

*Plans for these connections may change at any time, but we’ll provide additional updates on specific dates for future connections here as we can. Please note that as a part of the connection process realm times may change to match each other.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Q&A
Happy Friday! I thought it'd be nice to throw answers at all of these. The focus of your WoW gaming (judging by the questions at least) seems to be really focused on "completionist" activities, which is awesome, but of course the majority of our efforts are going to be focused on making Warlords at the moment, and releasing the expansion, so some answers are just going to be "no plans", hopefully that makes good logical sense for where we're spending our time. Anyway, here we go.

Are there any plans to make the BoP profession patterns from BT/Hyjal/Sunwell/Ulduar/etc BoE?
No current plans.

Are there any plans to remove the class requirements for Sunwell engineering patterns?
No current plans.

Are there any plans to revisit Been Waiting a Long Time for This (25 player) and (10 player) to make them more doable like you did with Sinestra?
No plan to do so – it’s still quite doable with the new dispel system and a couple of players. Sinestra’s actual mechanics were changed because the fight demanded spam-dispelling in some cases.

Are there any plans to create a mount and/or pet preview window by shift clicking?
It’s a cool idea, and something we’d like to do at some point. Pretty sure there are some addons that do this right now, though.

Are there any plans to display missing mounts/pets (greyed out) in the mounts/pet tabs?
Yes! This is possible in Warlords, including brief instruction on where they can be found.

Are there any plans to give the Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker feat of strength for Thunderfury's created on characters that can't equip it now that achievements are account-wide?
The FoS is to be a “wielder” and does require equipping it. No plans to change that.

Are there any plans to create reputation achievements for serious reputation grinders? The possible exalted reputation count has far exceeded the associated reputation achievements for some time, making it somewhat unrewarding to receive these achievements the day they are released. Currently sitting at 75 exalted and the last achievement was for 60, which was achievable before MoP.
We’ll probably update Rep achievements again in Warlords.

Are there any plans to increase the cap on amount of battle-tag friends?
It's something our Battle.net team is working on. Due to the complexity of each separate Blizzard game on Battle.net needing to adopt the same increase, as well as other technical requirements I don’t myself understand, it's not a simple change.

Are there any plans to convert the hearthstone into a spell so it doesn't take up a bag slot? It's been doing so since 2004, I'm about to start charging it rent.
Turning items into clickable spells can be great, but it can also decrease the sense that you're actually interacting with tangible objects within the world, and instead are a person at a computer clicking on buttons. We don't want to reduce everything about existing in this virtual world to a binary button or mechanic. It’s an iconic part of the game, and it’s really just a single slot out of many slots.

Are there any plans to prune the currency tab? It is getting convoluted again.
Potentially. In the meantime there is the ability to set a currency as inactive through the UI, which helps keep some from being front and center.

Are there any plans to add Domination Point Commisions to the currency tab?
No, they're gained and spent quickly, and aren't intended to be an ongoing currency. Would recommend either spending them now or deleting what you have, they're not likely to see any more or less use in the future. If you ever want to get more in the future they’re pretty quick to farm up.

Are there any plans to handle archaeology artifacts in the same way as fragments? My bag space is precious.
This falls in line with the answer for the hearthstone question above. Hopefully we can free up a lot of that bag space for you though in Warlords.

Are there any plans to implement a search function for achievements?
It's something we want to add, but it's not currently scheduled. Wish list item at the moment. We want to make some larger Achievement UI changes, and this could be a part of that. But again, it’s not something we’re actively working on for this expansion.

Are there any plans to make older Jewelcrafting recipes (Wrath/Cata) more obtainable? Those dailies are painful.
Not at the moment. They're not required, and so are really only a test of will for those that want to be completionists. And that's probably ok.

Are there any plans to add Classic, Burning Crusade, and/or Wrath raids to the Dungeon Journal?
It's still on our to-do list. We continue to make some progress here and there as we go, but obviously a large majority of our effort goes toward upcoming content so it’s just finding the time to do all the nice-to-haves.

Are there any plans to allow me to have more than 25 quests?
We are making some changes to the quest log, but they don't generally include a higher limit. For most people, having a large list of tasks--usually around 15-20--can start to feel overwhelming, and for a lot of those people being overwhelmed is a deterrent to playing at all. With Cataclysm, and certainly with newer zones in Mists and Warlords, it's very rare you'll have that many quests at any one time. The quest limit is generally only an issue for those looking to go back and do older content where they vacuum an entire zone, or for those times when leveling when you're outpacing the content and should probably drop quests and move on instead of keeping a bunch of grey ones. That's a separate problem though, and not best solved by increasing the amount of XP-less grey quests you can hold on to. Anyway, no, we know some people would like to be able to store a ton of quests, but it would be a big issue for a lot of players if they ever accidentally got to that point.

Are there any plans to completely remove deprecated quests? I have an alt with a Cataclysm opening quest completed but the quest turn-in NPC is no longer available.
We do have passes that will remove quests from people's logs, but sometimes those things slip through the cracks (especially with the radical Cataclsym changes) as we update content. What’s the name of the quest? I can see about getting it bugged.

nothing really tangible about a Hearthstone at that point, except for the fact that it takes up that bag slot.
That's kind of as tangible as things can get for a lootable object, so we're going to hang onto it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Racials
Why didn't you implement this change after the racials have been pass through? Seems rather pointless.
Racials, like any alpha change, should not be taken as final at this point. Anything is subject to change. (holinka)
sorry it you get asked a lot, but I miss my Hordies <3 they just don't feel as strong compared with that double trinket.
This is always highly debated. Many top players value the Horde Racials more in the absence of super powerful PvE trinkets. (holinka)

Classes
...be designed to put tanks in jeopardy without forsaking the new methodical, efficiency based healing philosophy?
Tanks will provide less of the healing they need to survive. (Celestalon)
Meaning Resolve won't provide as much healing power as Vengeance does? Or tanks won't have the abilities to do so?
The abilities just aren't tuned as strong. Tanks in Mists could survive with no external healing too well. (Celestalon)
I hope incoming damage is still tuned high. Part of the fun of tanking is being in real danger of dying.
We 100% agree. (Celestalon)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Shred now has a 50% increased critical strike chance when used from stealth against targets over 80% health.(and rogues ambush?)
No, that was just adding in part of what Ravage did. (Celestalon)

Considered adding starsurge to balance of power? On low haste, you’d need to skip ss, to extend for a full cycle.
No, it should already be more than enough to maintain on a single target. (Celestalon)
You get 5 SF, 7.5 wrath in a 30s cycle, for a 30 sec ext. on both dots. Add in ss, and one of them drops off 4-6 sec to early
Nobody has 0 haste though. And there's 32sec of slack involved (on Moonfire, 16sec on Sunfire). (Celestalon)

so just to confirm, starfall hits all in-combat targets every 1 sec for 10 secs?
We're going to try removing the combat check, since Guided Stars is available. But yes, all of them, every 1s for 10s. (Celestalon)
that. is. AWESOME!! It'll totally be scary when trying not to over-pull, but this is bringing it back to W3 and Wrath days.
Aye. The feeling of hitting Starfall and running around a cave, pulling *everything* is something we want to recapture. (Celestalon)

what is the purpose behind buffing HT when boomies self-cast?
That's part of a widespread reduction to downtime between pulls for many specs. (Celestalon)
so with all these changes, are you trying to make me fall in love w/ my boomie again? Cause its working
I admit it. Yes. (Celestalon)

DOT snapshots are gone in WoD, right? So a Moonfire cast at 1% Lunar will hit harder with successive ticks as Eclipse grows?
No... DoT snapshotting in general is gone, but Eclipse specifically is snapshotted (which is why it's worded that way). (Celestalon)
Is Eclipse going to be the only exception to the no-snapshotting rule, or are you considering others, like Soulburn: Haunt?
Nah, there are specific cases throughout; most specs who had some form of important snapshotting before have ~1 thing now. (Celestalon)

is +150% mana regen bundled into moonkin/starform going to be equivalent to live's Eclipse mana boost?
It'll be enough to maintain the DPS rotation. (Celestalon)
hurricane mana cost nerf was good. but still no idea why astral storm must have 50k mana cost. why cant i spam aoe...
They have the same (lower) mana cost in 6.0. (Celestalon)

Perhaps I'm being a pessimist, but the new Balance mechanics seem like they'll hinder our movement in a big way in PvP.
We're gunna try making Starsurge always instant. (Celestalon)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
what is intent behind 'heal on kill' buff for hunters?
We added some self-sustainability like that to several classes who were lacking in that department, lately. (Celestalon)

is a mobile stable for hunters possibly on the cards? 5 pet limit seems arbitrary and doesn't add any value.
Hmmm... that sounds like a potentially really fun hunter epic quest. Probably not for 6.0, love the idea though. (Muffinus)

Hook wasps now wasps due to similarity. Rylaks now tamable. New pet class? If so, can't you apply same logic and add to chimeras?
It's got ground anims, and in practice doesn't look at all like a Chim, hence the new family. (Muffinus)

Another quick question: is Focusing Shot damage supposed to be increased by the Draenor perk (Improved Steady/Cobra Shot)?
Yes, though you always have the relevant perk when you can get Focusing Shot, so it doesn't really matter; tuned as such. (Celestalon)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
What about Incanter's Flow with Mage Bombs, though?
That one, no. The rotational procs are the intended thing to use during Incanter's Flow peaks. (Celestalon)

Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Hello! For Monks. What will determine the "frontal cone" of the statue w/ Breath of the Serpent since it rotates?
It faces toward you. (Celestalon)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
So will only 3 stack ef's proc IH?
No, all will. It just isn't worth doing 1HoPo EF blanketing for Mastery anymore. (Celestalon)

Is the duration reduction on EF poor datamining or intended?
It's a change, not a reduction. Heals for 3*X per tick for HoPo*10sec, instead of HoPo*X per tick for 30sec. Same result. (Celestalon)
Except 1HoPo EFs don't last 30sec, so we can afford to let it trigger Mastery again. (Celestalon)
Sweet!
Might be too strong, we'll see. We think it's worth a try. (Celestalon)
so 2 HoPo EF's and 3 HoPo EF's won't trigger IH? Or am I missunderstanding?
Misunderstanding. (Celestalon)
lol so vague, so all EF's will trigger IH? Even though the duration of 2HoPo and 3HoPo EF is 20/30 seconds?
It all will trigger IH. (Celestalon)
The idea is to make it a significant resource cost to keep shields refreshed for 30s rather than a trivial one, yes?
Yes. (Celestalon)

Warlords of Draenor Alpha - Garrison Dance Hat
One of the fun things to do in your garrison that was mentioned was forming a conga line with NPCs. You can do this with the Dance Hat purchased from Guh. The music in this video is not the in game music, just filler for the silence.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Bloodmaul Slag Mines, Connected Realm Updates, Blue Posts and Tweets, Dance Hat started by chaud View original post
Published on 2014-06-07 11:03 AM
73 Comments
Comments 72 Comments
  1. De Lupe's Avatar
    Nothing relieves the stress of war like a group conga.
  1. Zathrendar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rorcanna View Post
    "Doesn't bode well"...? 10 years on the market with more expansions planned after the next, still over 5 million subs. Do tell how the most difficult WoW fights are cheese compared to Wildstar most challenging. People love to e-peen themselves by pretending that what they play requires the highest skill. I'd dare say none of them can be mastered easily.

    Just because it's new, doesn't make it the pinnacle of skill cap. Same with GW2, took not even 30 minutes for a good player to get used to the combat of the game.
    Well I never said that WoW doesn't have some difficult fights. The fact that it's been here oh what, 10 years, doesn't mean it's the most skill intensive MMO out there. It is just the biggest crowd pleaser. I don't particularly pick and choose MMOs on this, but I very much doubt WoW or Wildstar will differ much in their difficulty curve.
  1. aeuhe4yxzhds's Avatar
    That Fatboss channel is so bad and horrible, they should not be creating videos. Their guides are so god damn long and just stupid mumbling about nothing when the mechanics for a spell could be mention in 8 seconds.
  1. eem5's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by aeuhe4yxzhds View Post
    That Fatboss channel is so bad and horrible, they should not be creating videos. Their guides are so god damn long and just stupid mumbling about nothing when the mechanics for a spell could be mention in 8 seconds.
    I and others like them, and get a lot out of them. If you don't your choice as a consumer is to go somewhere else.
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Thaladhrun View Post
    Well I never said that WoW doesn't have some difficult fights. The fact that it's been here oh what, 10 years, doesn't mean it's the most skill intensive MMO out there. It is just the biggest crowd pleaser. I don't particularly pick and choose MMOs on this, but I very much doubt WoW or Wildstar will differ much in their difficulty curve.
    Well, we agree then, since I didn't claim WoW to be the most skill intensive or such dreck either. I just defend it and my own achievements in-game from trolls pretending like other mmos take more skill, feel more rewarding to play (personal level yes, for a fact no) and makes the players shit smell of roses. Hopefully others too can keep choosing their mmo on fun levels rather than how they believe it can grow their e-peen, because it only makes them look bad when they do.

    All mmos are the same when it comes to combat. You move your hands and fingers, look at what's happening and react with the tools given by the game. Yeah, no one with a medium skill level and up should be having issues. Those with low skill and no motivation to improve will mess up no matter what game they play.
  1. Mormolyce's Avatar
    CONGA CONGA CONGA!

    Man I hope that conga hat works outside the garrison, or maybe a rare vanity item does.
  1. Queen of Hamsters's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mormolyce View Post
    CONGA CONGA CONGA!

    Man I hope that conga hat works outside the garrison, or maybe a rare vanity item does.
    I had a silly grin on my face whilst watching the conga line. Fun thing to implement! Can't wait to start with my Garrison
  1. Terrorwave's Avatar
    Looks fun, and to those stating the wildstar is better. If i ever want to go play a comic book for kids i might go out and buy wildstar, but thats not gonna happen
  1. bryroo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by alkyd View Post
    This is Alpha vesrisionino my friendino. So why don't you waitino until full versionino comes outino and then whinino about the game?
    You'd better let the rest of the internet know they aren't allowed to make opinions based on what they're seeing in the alpha because there are probably millions of people doing it right now and you need to put your foot down and let them know what's what.
  1. Expectations's Avatar
    I wonder if the people that constantly jump to the next new MMO, and then come back to persuade people to follow them before they all come back to WoW, get as tired to saying as I do of hearing it? It has become as old as the rehashed content they talk about.

    This dungeon looks good, and will be a challege for as long as it needs to be to gear up. Then the challenge mode version
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Andelormon View Post
    I wonder if the people that constantly jump to the next new MMO, and then come back to persuade people to follow them before they all come back to WoW, get as tired to saying as I do of hearing it? It has become as old as the rehashed content they talk about.

    This dungeon looks good, and will be a challege for as long as it needs to be to gear up. Then the challenge mode version
    Precisely, and like every other MMO before, once they have seen everything and done everything, they will get bored with it and either move on or come back to the MMO they lambasted..
  1. Thallidomaniac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rogabr View Post
    "This (second) boss hits the tank really hard!"


    100%

    90%

    80%

    60%

    100% from heal

    90%

    OH yea, man that was difficult. with those 4k aoe projectiles on a 60k hp target, man thats some tough stuff.
    With the changes to healing in WoD, making bosses hit really hard like this won't be feasible:

    100%

    1 health

    100%

    1 health

    99%

    Dead

    Unless of course, Blizzard is intentionally designing boss encounters to be unbeatable aside from using hacks/exploits.
  1. mmoc876f555b78's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Thallidomaniac View Post
    With the changes to healing in WoD, making bosses hit really hard like this won't be feasible:

    100%

    1 health

    100%

    1 health

    99%

    Dead

    Unless of course, Blizzard is intentionally designing boss encounters to be unbeatable aside from using hacks/exploits.
    Oh i am pretty sure it is possible to make the encounters even in dungeons a little more challenging. It doesn't help to overexaggerate in order to make a point.
    There's quite some room between 'hits for 5%-10% of hp' and 'hits for 99%' of hp.

    edit: typo
  1. Neliah's Avatar
    Okay, that conga line nearly made me die irl. That was pretty damn funny
  1. mmoc2469da80bf's Avatar
    Looks fun ! Lets hope this will bring our guild back to life in december !!!!
  1. Arvandor's Avatar
    new instance looks boring as hell.. same colour, same enemys.. wtf blizzard?
    and yes for sw and shut up cave peoples, you gain a free mount..
  1. Karot's Avatar
    That conga line video already makes me feel like this is going to be the best expansion yet!
  1. SteveZombie's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Arvandor View Post
    new instance looks boring as hell.. same colour, same enemys.. wtf blizzard?
    I too get angry and confused when I'm questing through an ogre-controlled slag mine and the walls don't turn green and the lava doesn't turn blue and the ogres and slaves don't turn into robots and pizzas. Why doesn't Blizzard ever cater to my oddly specific attention span!
  1. grexly75's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Arvandor View Post
    new instance looks boring as hell.. same colour, same enemys.. wtf blizzard?
    and yes for sw and shut up cave peoples, you gain a free mount..
    So I spose you would rather that the dungeon was yellow with red polka dots and the mobs were killer bunnies, and the bosses were all Bambi on steroids.. /sarcasm

    Really do not understand people getting so worked up over the look of a dungeon..
  1. Tisane's Avatar
    I'd buy WoD just for the Garrison Dance Hat. That's just awesome.
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