First Look: Patch 2.1.0 PTR Preview

June Site Update: Naxxramas Deckbuilder

Hero Rotation Update - June 17, Alpha Opt-Ins: Large Australia Wave as Early as Next Week

Warlords of Draenor - Gorgrond Zone Preview
Today we are taking a look at Gorgrond, which has seen significant updates since the original preview. Keep in mind that many parts of the zone are clearly not finished.



Patch 5.4.8 Hotfixes - June 17
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Creatures
  • NPC vendors selling Tier-16 armor pieces now have significantly more health.

Items
  • Fire-Watcher's Oath: Players transformed into an Ordon Fire-Watcher now have a 100% chance to gain Bloody Coins on killing-blows against level-90 characters. Note that there's still a short internal-cooldown on earning Bloody Coins.
  • Nightmarish Hitching Post is now usable in Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds.

Bug Fixes
  • Resolved an issue where the Nightmarish Reins buff could cause players on a flight path to travel slowly.
  • Resolved an issue where players may receive duplicate letters in-game for purchases made on the store.

Warlords of Draenor - Game Responsiveness
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I know this is a very open question, but is there anything "under the hood" with the responsiveness changes that could impact theorycrafting?
I was wondering when this'd get brought up. I've hinted about this in the past in a couple interviews... Yes, there was a very significant underlying change here, that may have implications for theorycrafting (though minor).

I don't want to get too deep into the under-the-hood workings of WoW servers, but here's a super short version. Any action that one unit takes on another different unit used to be processed in batches every 400ms. Some very attentive people may have noticed that healing yourself would give you the health instantly (minus client/server latency), whereas healing another unit would incur a delay of between 0ms and 400ms (again, on top of client/server latency). Same with damaging, applying auras, interrupting, knocking back, etc.

That delay can feel bad just due to the somewhat laggy responsiveness feeling, but also because the state of things can change during that time. For example: Holly the Holy Priest is healing Punky the Brewmaster. Punky spikes low, and Holly hits Guardian Spirit in a panic. The server verifies that Holly is able to cast it, and that Punky is alive (great!). The cast goes off, Guardian Spirit goes on cooldown, and a request is placed for the Guardian Spirit aura (that prevents dying) to be placed on Punky. That request will be filled next time the 400ms timer loops, which happens to be 320ms from now. 250ms later, the boss lands another hit on on Punky. Punky dies. Sadface. Another 70ms goes by, and the Guardian Spirit aura request pops up, and goes "Hey guys, I'm here!... Aww... damn, I missed the party. Sadface."

We no longer batch them up like that. We just do it as fast as we can, which usually amounts to between 1ms and 10ms later. It took a considerable amount of work to get it working that way, but we're very pleased with the results so far; the game feels noticeably more responsive.

I can't guarantee that you'll never ever again run into cases where Guardian Spirit went on cooldown and the tank still died... but it'll be literally 40x rarer than before, and the whole game will feel more responsive too.

Warlords of Draenor Theorycraft Discussion
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
In the next build, visit Shattrath, in Outland, and you'll find...

Test Realm Dummies!
There are dummies setup for damage dealers on the SW and SE sides of the inner ring, for tanks along the NE side of the inner ring, for healers along the NW side of the inner ring, and for raid groups on Aldor Rise.

Here's a list of what's there:

Weak Damage Dummy – Level 100. Comes in clusters of 5.
Dungeon Damage Dummy – Level 102.
Raid Damage Dummy – Level 103. Comes with two Dungeon Damage Dummies next to it.
Killable Damage Dummy – Level 103. Is Killable. Has 20million health.
Mythic Damage Dummy – Level 103. Is Killable. Has 300million health.

Weak Tank Dummy – Level 100. Swings for 5000-5000 damage, 1.5sec swing timer.
Dungeon Tank Dummy – Level 102. Swings for 60000-90000 damage, 1.5sec swing timer. Has a “Dummy Strike” attack, which does 50% Weapon Damage as Physical, 5-7sec cooldown.
Raid Tank Dummy – Level 103. Swings for 200000-300000 damage, 1.5sec swing timer. Has the same “Dummy Strike” attack.
Mythic Tank Dummy – Level 103. Swings for 300000-450000 damage, 1.5sec swing timer. Has the same “Dummy Strike” attack. Also has an “Uber Strike”, which deals 100% Weapon Damage as Shadow and increases damage dealt by 5% per stack, 1sec cast time, resets swing timer, 10sec cooldown, unlimited stacks.

Healing Dummy – Level 100. Friendly. Drops to 1hp every second.

Cauldron of Power – Clickable objects on the ground that will grant you all raid buffs, and the flask/food matching your current spec's stat attunement.

Does this mean 100 premades are inc in the next build as well?
We're working on that. I hope they make it into that build, but not 100% positive.

(Also, I know I'm behind a few days on this thread, trying to catch up. I'm going to be on vacation for a week starting tomorrow afternoon, so trying to get caught up before I leave.)

Will Fury Execute OH function like RB OH, Storm Bolt OH or Whirlwind OH? Also, did any of the following mechanics change?
In Warlords, as of next build...

Execute, Raging Blow, and Storm Bolt will work like this: Perform the Mainhand hit roll. If successful, also fire the Offhand attack, which always hits. (Same as now for RB, different for SB, new for Ex)

EDIT: Slight technicality here, if you're looking at the spell IDs involved in the logs. RB's root spell is just a cover spell that contains separate MH and OH spells. The root spell can miss, the MH/OH spells cannot.

For SB/Ex, the root spell is the MH damage, which can miss. If it hits, it fires the OH spell, which cannot miss.

Whirlwind will work like this: Perform the Mainhand hit rolls. Independently, perform the offhand hit rolls. (Same as now)

1. Anything that applies either disease, including icy touch, howling blast, plague strike, outbreak, and unholy blight ticks, will, if necrotic plague is already active, instead add 1 stack to affected targets, and not affect the duration.
Correct.

2. Festering strike's 6 second extension will not change current stacks, but is the only thing that will add on duration to an existing stack, allowing for an additional 3 ticks at max strength per festering strike.
Correct.

3. Pestilence spreads necrotic plague from a target that has it to targets that don't have it. Pestilence has no effect on targets that already have it, neither changing duration nor stacks.
If you have Scent of Blood, it will effectively recast each disease that they have (refreshing/extending BP/FF, and adding a stack to NP). If you don't have Scent of Blood, it will find the longest duration one of each type, and clone that copy to the other targets, replacing their current debuff (and yes, that applies to NP, even).

4. When necrotic plague jumps on it's own, it jumps with it's existing stack size and duration. This allows it to naturally spread to 2^n targets, where N is the number of ticks. (1, 2, 4, 8. 16, 32)
Correct.

When necrotic plague jumps on the last tick, does that tick spread?
No.

Unholy seems to be able to maintain a permanent 15 stack with festering strike, which spreads to all adds as a 15 stack, and whenever it falls off an add, another add spreads it back to said add. It doesn't seem to want to jump to a target that already has it, so how does the following case work?

T=0, duration on target 1 is 30 seconds, and 2 seconds on target 2. Tick happens, no open targets, no jumping occurs.
T=2, duration on target 1 is 28 seconds, and 0 seconds on target 2. Tick happens on both, Does the disease jump to target 2, or is there a 2 second delay before it can jump, having a tick be missed?

Disease jumps just as the last tick happens, so there's no break in tick periods.

1: Will multistrikes attempt to proc from attacks that miss/parry/dodge?
2: Will sweeping strikes duplicate multistrikes?
3: Will multistrikes be counted into ignites?


1) Looks like they currently do, but shouldn't. (Or, alternatively, the Multistrikes should be able to miss). Will solve that and report back with which way we decided to go.
2) As usual, no double-dipping on Multistrike. Sweeping Strikes can Multistrike. Multistrikes cannot Sweeping Strike. So, maximum procs from one Execute would be... Ex, Ex-MS, Ex-MS, Ex-SS, Ex-SS-MS, Ex-SS-MS.
3) Yes. Multistrikes trigger Ignite. Ignite cannot Multistrike.

So just to clarify, doom should always gain the damage boost from being cast in meta, even when not in meta? Currently on beta if you cast doom and leave meta, it will loose the meta damage boost.also side note bug, toc doesn't extend corruption to the 24~ seconds you can get from pandemic extending. instead it just extends it to the base duration. (I assume this is a bug).

Correct. Yeah, those are bugs currently. There are a lot of "shoulds" and "woulds" in what I said because I'm not sure which way it works right now, just clarifying which way is intended.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Warlords of Draenor Story
I'm feel like I'm already supposed to know these characters, and it's kind of like being a stranger at a party where everyone else knows each other.
One super important thing to keep in mind is that the alpha is currently lacking the Warlords of Draenor intro experience we're working on. By the time you reach the point where the current alpha template characters start, you'll already have been introduced to many of the characters you're interacting with. That should hopefully make you feel like less of a stranger.

Still, it's good feedback. Keep it coming! Tons of great feedback in this thread so far. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
If I have Pyroblast! buff, use pyroblast (instant, +25%dmg), and multristrike - does the multistrike'd pyro get the +25% buff?
Yes. (Celestalon)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
you still left 20% wings, holy avenger and added Seraphim. Why did you add a burst cd talent? 3 cds too much again.
Big difference between a 30 second cooldown and a 3 minute one. (holinka)

Everyone is less of a threat outside of cd's, however Ret is far weaker. Templar's Verdict should be more of a threat as a finisher
TV feels weak because when you press it, 3 numbers spawn instead of 1 big number. (holinka)
3? TV+Mastery should be 2, or? Do you count autoattack?
Seal proc (holinka)

Priest (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
With lvl 90 talents for Priests no longer doing damage as Holy, will we be ablo to cast them in Spirit of Redemption?
Yes. (Celestalon)

PvE
Any chance we'll ever see the Que requirement for heroic scenarios, lowered from three people to two? Or even one. Would love it
Unlikely while they are current, but in 6.0 you'll be able to go back and solo queue for any Mists scenarios. (WatcherDev)

what consumable buffs will we have in wod? Secondary flasks, food (secondary?), and one time battle potions?
Pretty much that. Plus health potion/Healthstone on a separate shared cooldown. (WatcherDev)

PvP
I think i am, i thought the intent was random people facing each other. Another question: Is there a minimum item level for solo q?
That's a pretty generic intent. Random people face each other in every part of PvP. No min ilevel but gear is scaled up to a min. (holinka)

Also I'm presuming the main reason for Skirmish would be 'I have noone to Q with'.For that the current isn't good solution
I expect high level players will do very little skirmish. Just as they do little normal battlegrounds. That's fine. (holinka)
what prode is saying. High end arena players will do skirmishes for honor grinds if its efficient vs bgs
that's fine, but they aren't the intended audience. Once they have gear they will end up in rated. (holinka)
while many people primarily play random bgs, some people will primarily play skirmishes (holinka)

Pre-purchase WoD at Selected Retailers from June 17!
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Starting June 17, you’ll be able to pre-purchase World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Standard Edition at selected retail outlets across Europe.

Picking up a special Standard Edition pre-purchase box ahead of the expansion’s release this Fall will let you upgrade your account to Warlords of Draenor immediately. And of course, this gives you a level 90 character boost which you can use any time you like! These pre-purchase boxes, which are only available before the game comes out, don’t include a game disc, but instead everything is linked to the digital code inside. Apply it to your Battle.net account before release, and all the content will automagically download through the Battle.net app so you’ll be able to play Warlords of Draenor as soon as it’s released. Oh—and there’s a cool poster inside too.
Pre-purchase copies of Warlords of Draenor will go on sale June 17 at selected European retailers. You can find the list of these retailers here.


Warlords of Draenor is also available for pre-purchase via Battle.net, where you can also find out about the Digital Deluxe Edition – and we’ll have news about the Collector’s Edition soon too! Well, not very soon. But soon-ish.

Blizzard Art Update
Blizzard has added more pieces to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Art gallery.


This article was originally published in forum thread: Gorgrond Zone Preview, June 17 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, WoD Pre-Purchase, Blizzard Art started by chaud View original post
Comments 67 Comments
  1. Crackleslap's Avatar
    "depthroot" I lol'd.
  1. Kaleredar's Avatar
    That dark iron dwarf/tol'vir skirmish seems mighty interesting...
  1. helmaroc's Avatar
    Hot damn this zone looks good too. Can't wait to set foot in these places.
  1. Wildmoon's Avatar
    I love how everything in Gorgrond is huge.
  1. bison91's Avatar
    truly..i didnt like this green ashenvalish gorgrond half zone at all...i am better with desolate place then totaly green with mandagoras...

    - - - Updated - - -

    liked the green zone with road that lead to our bases and iron hordes but...the forest with tons of mobs is kinda meh to me
  1. CasCrow's Avatar
    curious why there's that uldum race here.
  1. mmoc525a0f7521's Avatar
    I really wanna ride a Hydra next XP. Yes, the one with 3 heads! Should be fun.
  1. Nozuka's Avatar
    finally a zone that makes me want to play this expansion. would love to explore it.
  1. Wishblade's Avatar
    Now that looks much more interesting than the Gorgrond we've seen before. Also, I wanna fight those Titanic Megabeasts!
  1. Kryos's Avatar
    This is the first picture from WoD that looks like a significat improvement over existing WoW graphics:

    I hope they will as many details everywhere.
  1. rcshaggy's Avatar
    Its kinda funny that Gorgrond and Frostfire form up to make the barren edged wasteland known as Blade's Edge Mountains.
    Good to know it actually had some life before it turned into a wasteland you know? :P
  1. Lora's Avatar
    i want news about the physical collectors edition damnit :/
  1. mmocc75861ccdb's Avatar
    Needs more Titanic Megabeasts.

    Also, please tell me I'm not the only one who misread that Depthroot thing.
  1. m2geek's Avatar
    Trying SO hard not to look at art, screenies, MoP's big open beta was terribad for making the content age Fast for me :\
  1. mmoc3f25629bd0's Avatar
    hey, looks like the sylvari are taking a holiday from tyria....sry, "bloom weavers"...lol.

    Looks nice, but really? this is where they are at? still on base poly level for some scenary and buildings, obviously non-populated, non-furnished areas are huge. I really would have thought, given the time scale they are supposedly working to, that they'd at least have the zone terrain fleshed out more. Really will be 20th December then....or later...
  1. Chaosweaver's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by savutitus View Post
    Needs more Titanic Megabeasts.

    Also, please tell me I'm not the only one who misread that Depthroot thing.
    Pretty much everyone misread that.
  1. mmoc46acbcd7f9's Avatar
    i might be, or probably am overthinking it... but i noticed the following

    Picking up a special Standard Edition pre-purchase box ahead of the expansion’s release this Fall will .....

    fall, December is winter, so that would make WoD planned to be released no later then november... Hmmmm
  1. mmoc89084f456c's Avatar
    Gorgrond look absolutely awesome.
  1. Sainur's Avatar
    Can't come soon enough...
  1. Chaosweaver's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Hyperactive View Post
    i might be, or probably am overthinking it... but i noticed the following

    Picking up a special Standard Edition pre-purchase box ahead of the expansion’s release this Fall will .....

    fall, December is winter, so that would make WoD planned to be released no later then november... Hmmmm
    They said Fall a number of months ago, that's nothing new.

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