Garrisons: Bunker / War Mill, Soloing Old Content, Blue Tweets, ESL Finals, DLC #458

Old Raid Solo Bugs
Tried again in this new 18927 build, still experiencing same thing. Reduced damage against bosses.
Just to confirm, this is a bug - we're working on a fix. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Post-Squish Legacy Content
We're going through and making adjustments based on this thread, other feedback, and our own internal testing. Some of the issues were pure oversights; others reflect a loophole when it comes to self-inflicted or friendly-fire damage, for which we're working on a comprehensive fix.

I do want to clarify, however, that our changes are only intended to offset the direct effects of the "squish" and our goal has been to make sure that linearizing the item curve between item levels ~60 and 463 doesn't impact the ability to solo legacy content. That is not the same as saying that we guarantee nothing will change, period - we've made a number of adjustments to tank mitigation, healing, defensive cooldowns, and so forth. That's nothing new for an expansion, and in some cases, yes, that will make old content more challenging than it was in 5.4.8, especially for tank specs that could previously use Vengeance to great effect. But that has nothing to do with the item squish.

There is no specific intent or plan for when and whether anything becomes soloable. That's up to you.

We design the content to be appropriately difficult for the original audience at the appropriate level (whether that's a few players in the outdoor world, a dungeon group with a dedicated tank and healer, a full raid group, etc.). Over time, as player power grows through access to higher levels, more powerful gear, new talents, and so forth, content that used to require a group becomes soloable, organically. Some classes (tanks, those with better self-healing, those with pets) will be able to do it sooner than others, but everyone will get there eventually. It might take an extra tier, or even an extra expansion, but that's just the nature of how the power curve works. And if you can't solo something but are interested in a shot at a transmog item, achievement, or rare mount, you can always bring a friend or two.

We don't nerf old content specifically to make it soloable - we occasionally make quality-of-life changes when a mechanic (like Thorim's cleanup that reset the fight if the arena was unoccupied) is artificially preventing players who have the raw power to solo an encounter from doing so. But we don't go back and specifically make old content numerically easier. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Racials
any word on Every Man for Himself changing? We're less than 2 months away from release and no response
I've responded at least twice to this. It isn't changing. (holinka)

Classes
ETA on tuning down hybrid and dps healing? Ret, feral, enhance, ele, boomy etc.. All can spam to 100% in seconds. Hard to test atm.
.It's something we're looking at. Best way to help is to run meters in arenas and highlight specific spells that stand out. (holinka)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)
Frost DK 4p bonus - "15% damage per soul" - 15% what damage per soul? Weapon damage?
15% Weapon Damage, yes. (Celestalon)

Character / Items
+1 and u want to be excited every holiday!
These items use new auto-level-update tech, can probably provide more info than I can (Muffinus)
In 6.0 we can balance power items from holidays to be appropriate without a patch. Wish granted! (olandgren)

PvP
Setting up realms that will meet in Ashran. It's like playing the dating game for WoW servers. (holinka)
would love a post on how you pick and decide! Would be very fun to read and learn.
Primary goal is: both sides of Ashran feel equally full. Doesn't mean both servers need same population. (holinka)

There should be rewards before 2000, especially the 2000 mark aswell to increase participation.
We have rewards for participation below 2000. Conquest gear and the Vicious mounts. They've proven very effective (holinka)
Rating inflation works fine, and I'm sure it's not changing, just rewards requirements being raised, right?
Correct (holinka)
Btw, I noticed there were 2 new PvP "illusion" enchants, primal victory + glorius tyranny, whats the difference?
Just typo fixes. Glorious Tyranny is last expac. Primal Victory is this expac. (holinka)

I heard the Tarren Mill vs Southshore match has been reduced to 40 vs 40. Can you pls confirm?
.It's true. Our battlegrounds are not setup to support more than 40 per side. My ambition got the best of me on that 100v100 tweet. (holinka)

Warlords of Draenor Lore
You say Thrall had "too big a presence in Cata" but you don't think that it was orc centric? It was about thrall saving us
It was about all of the mortal races and the dragonflights coming together to stop Deathwing. Thrall was one piece. (_DonAdams)

Except his part in Nagrand. Liked the cutscene, but I can't agree with WHO it was. Thrall is big enough
At this point it's obvious Thrall made a mistake with Garrosh. I think his role in WoD is fair. (_DonAdams)

Everything from the zones, bosses, and even the cinematics is all ORCS. You even had Thrall kill Garrosh. It was awesome cinema
That's like saying MoP was only pandaren. Overall theme? Sure. But actual content is varied: many creatures and monsters. (_DonAdams)
They're a big focus. My point was mostly that previous expacs weren't "orc expansions." Even still, WoD is not only orcs. (_DonAdams)

That's just a pretty simple rule. If we're the heroes, we should get the glory.
You're constantly referred to as heroes, saviors of Azeroth. Big NPCs don't diminish that - they enforce it (_DonAdams)
Granted, I think we hold back the killing blow too often. We should let players kill the bosses more. (_DonAdams)
Tirion is mostly in the background, so his interference is fine. Thrall is always the center of the story.
In Cata he was probably too involved. We acknowledge that. In WoD it's a special case: poetic justice. (_DonAdams)
Not to mention his obvious connection with the Frostwolf clan. (_DonAdams)
Sure, it'd be weird if Thrall was uninvolved. But you can see why him saving us from Garrosh would be taken ill.
Yeah, I definitely understand the concern. (_DonAdams)
Thrall really feels he came full circle with the (spoiler cinematic)After WoD it could be a good send off for him
I think it was necessary for his arc to be satisfying. Who knows what he'll do next. He does have a family. (_DonAdams)
if you want people to like him again, he needs to lose badly. Superman is only interesting when vulnerable.
I don't know that Alliance players will ever really like him. As a War3 and Horde player, I always have. (_DonAdams)
Thing I like about Thrall is that he's the soul of the horde. On the outside, they look like monsters. (_DonAdams)
But Thrall's horde was about honor and family. They are noble ideals. Thrall + Cairne are the best. (_DonAdams)
It makes him more human (alltho he's an orc) We shall see through the patches;D
He's sort of a bridge between humanity and orc(manity?) due to his upbringing. I liked him as that role. (_DonAdams)

Yeah. Thrall's a visionary. He wants to change things, not insist he's always right. Should've owned up.
Thing is, we tried to go more neutral with him as the World Shaman in Cata, and people hated him. (_DonAdams)

Part of it; also that humans/orcs always pushed. See: Ashran capitols, garrisons.
In a way, Thrall's place in the current environment is as difficult for us as it is for him. (_DonAdams)
This could put him in a more passive advisory role that wouldn't threaten player spotlight and it'd let him evolve as a character
I'd like to see him focus on his family and advising Vol'jin in rebuilding the Horde. But it's not my call! (_DonAdams)

You can't claim someone as being central antagonist when they appear for a second. Thrall was everywhere in Cata, Garrosh in MoP.
Antagonist is the one who creates the conflict, i.e. Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer trying to blow up the world. (_DonAdams)

I mean, please explain why in Cata Thrall took central focus when it should have been Malfurion? You know, nature guy?
While heroes of the mortal races (the players) defeat most of the enemies. Everyone plays a part. (_DonAdams)
The elements are a shaman's domain. Thrall becomes the most powerful shaman on Azeroth in order to hold it together. (_DonAdams)
It just seems like a bad decision to not work in the Malfurion/Emerald Dream storyline when players have wanted it for so long.
He was in Hyjal and Molten Front, but I'd like to see him (and the other night elves) more often considering their power. (_DonAdams)
That's mine and some others concern. We fear good heroes (Malfurion, Tyrande, Genn) are being forgotten while Thrall takes stage.
I think in WoD we kept it light on big names because we want the player character as the main hero, (_DonAdams)
Khadgar is there (Tirion-esque) and Thrall is there to learn about his heritage. Primarily, the players are the big guns here. (_DonAdams)

when they know he's alive. I hope we see his shadowhunters more and Rokhan
Rokhan and the shadow hunters are in the Horde garrison and serve as scouts all over Draenor. (_DonAdams)

Yrel is looking very promising, indeed. Y'all should feel proud about her.
A lot of people worked very hard on Yrel. It's tough to build a brand new character in 1 expac of leveling. (_DonAdams)

Uhm.. The Garrosh intro: He was building up to be a big baddy, not 'Rushing to explore'.
Can't it be both? Ally find island, both factions send expeditions (find Anduin, explore, gain land). It escalates in 5.1. (_DonAdams)
It can't really, when Garrosh made his intentions fairly clear from the start. He was looking for conquests, not adventures.
Sort of careening wildly off point here, which is that both factions drove the story to Pandaria. (_DonAdams)
They didn't though.. Anduin just *happened* to end up there.
He shipwrecked there, which is how anyone found the island, and is why Varian sent troops. (_DonAdams)

World
That reminds me--Brewfest is tomorrow. Too bad some of the cool holiday updates are just on the PTR/beta.
Things to look forward to during the entire life of the expac is what world events should be all about (Muffinus)
I think it's just that we had a relative drought of updates in MoP and all the datamined things are so cool!
Yea, I would love to see the world events get new toys or pets or at least something new every year if possible! #WoW
We would very much like this as well. (Muffinus)

Will there be achievements for the rares in Pandaria similar to "A Worthy Opponent" & its meta "Glorious"? None in beta so far..
Not this round, rares serving a bit of a diff. purpose, felt like there was plenty of long-term cheevos in WoD (Muffinus)
I wondered since they are "leveling rares" this time out. So all rewards, etc pertinent to current rares finished in beta?
Should be, let us know if you find anything amiss! (Muffinus)

Garrisons
Why is Gamon in the Alliance Garrison & a Dwarf in the Horde Garrison. This doesn't make sense !!. @Muffinus
The inn is a place for all weary travellers to spend the night, so long as they're nice about it. (Muffinus)

Can followers have their rarity upgraded? I know I'd rather use Admiral Taylor rather than some schlub who is rare instead
Yes! Once they hit level 100, their XP goes towards increasing their rarity. (Muffinus)