New Battle.Net Avatars, Blue Posts, War on Lordaeron Fan Film, DLC #657

Winter Veil Event: Toys, toys, toys!, PTR Patch Notes - December 3, 2018

Island Expedition Rewards Update
Patch 8.1 will change Island Expedition rewards from being based on the NPCs you kill to the NPCs that are on the island.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
In Tides of Vengeance, in addition to two new Island Expeditions, we’re making a number of adjustments and improvements to Islands. One of those changes will alter how various cosmetic rewards are determined, and we’d like to explain that further, as we promised here: https://twitter.com/WarcraftDevs/sta...80683058487297

Currently in Battle for Azeroth, Island Expeditions have a chance to reward cosmetic items based on which type of creatures you and your team defeated. For example, if the island theme of the week was Hozen, there’s a chance to receive one of the Banana toys. If the invaders were Nerubian, you could have a chance to receive the Voru’kar Leecher companion pet (among other things). They way this has worked is by means of a hidden scorecard that counted your group’s efforts against anything on the island that was part of the invaders’ ecology. So if anyone in the group earned some Azerite from killing invaders or mining Azerite near the invaders, everyone in the group had a chance at the cosmetic rewards. That chance grew based on how much invaders’ Azerite was obtained, and was also a higher chance in Heroic and even higher in Mythic difficulty Islands. We set the maximum chance you could earn at a reasonable threshold, in the hopes that players wouldn’t feel that they needed to only kill invaders and not complete the islands in a natural way.

Of course, that’s not how it worked out. Confusion around the best way to get cosmetics led to a divergence in playstyles, with some players wishing to focus exclusively on hunting specific creatures, while others wished to win the island efficiently to get Azerite. This caused a significant amount of tension between players who had differing goals.

In Tides of Vengeance, all players on an Expedition will have a chance to receive cosmetic rewards based on the island’s inhabitants, rather than which enemies were specifically defeated. That chance will again be higher on higher difficulties, but there will be no need to strategize around invaders. The most efficient way to receive cosmetic rewards will be whatever tactics cause you to complete the Island quickly, on the highest difficulty that you’re comfortable.

Thanks to everyone who has stormed our high seas with feedback on this. We really appreciate it.

New Pet Battle Dungeon - Gnomeregan
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
It’s time to martial your menagerie and put your best battle pets forward within the halls of Gnomeregan.

To get started on your journey, you’ll need to have earned the achievement All Growns Up!, which requires you to raise a pet to level 25. This will make a new quest available to you from Radek Fuselock, who is located near the pet battle trainers in Dazar’alor, or Tizzy Gearjolt, who is located just outside of Dana Pull’s shop in Hook Point in Boralus. You won’t need to complete the Wailing Caverns or Deadmines pet battle dungeons to gain access, and with the release of the Tides of Vengeance content update, you’ll be able to play the three pet battle dungeons in any order.

Completing the quest and pet battle dungeon the first time earns you an Ultimate Battle-Training Stone. You’ll also be able to avail yourself of Manapoof’s aid to teleport directly to Gnomeregan’s dungeon entrance as a part of the quest reward.

For those daring to push your team, you can take on the Challenge Mode version of the dungeon, which requires you to have at least 15 maximum-level battle pets. This will open an account-wide weekly quest that you can pick up from Micro Zoox, who’s waiting outside the Gnomeregan instance portal.

Completing the Challenge Mode the first time will grant the achievement Pet Battle Challenge: Gnomeregan, which rewards a Mini Spider Tank battle pet. Return each week to complete the quest and you’ll earn the reward Pristine Gizmo, which can be exchanged for items from Micro Zoox including an Unopened Gnomeregan Supply Box, Mechanical Cockroach, Schematic: Mechantula, Leper Rat Tail, and Rechargeable Alarm-O-Dog Battery.

Whether you’re new to pet battle dungeons or a companion-combat veteran, you’ll want to get in on the ongoing story as it unfolds. Who are the shadowy figures that keep appearing? What do they want? What are their nefarious plans? Discover what awaits your critter pals next in Gnomeregan!
This article was originally published in forum thread: Island Expedition Rewards Update, New Pet Battle Dungeon - Gnomeregan started by chaud View original post
Comments 83 Comments
  1. Sencha's Avatar
    Pet battles, pets, toys, mounts, transmog...

    Has WoW turned into a game for girls?
  1. Tanidor's Avatar
    Ooh I like this new change. Absolutely agree. Way too many groups did not care about the cosmetics or mounts. There is major selfishness in many players. They feel they don't need it, or already have it, and almost on PURPOSE avoid those specific inhabitants.
  1. Benedictu's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sencha View Post
    Pet battles, pets, toys, mounts, transmog...

    Has WoW turned into a game for girls?
    So you don't try to collect things and get achieve points as the manly, manly man you are?
  1. Explicit Teemo Nudes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tanidor View Post
    Ooh I like this new change. Absolutely agree. Way too many groups did not care about the cosmetics or mounts. There is major selfishness in many players. They feel they don't need it, or already have it, and almost on PURPOSE avoid those specific inhabitants.
    Well, one could also suggest that you're the selfish one for wanting everyone else to kill the mobs you want to kill instead of taking the most efficient route to complete the island in time.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I still won't enjoy IE. It's just too RNG merged with too low drop rate. It's even worse than Timeless Isle, which I hate as I still miss most things from there despite camping and farming the shit out of that place. Wish I could do it on my own :P
  1. Sencha's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Benedictu View Post
    So you don't try to collect things and get achieve points as the manly, manly man you are?
    I don't care about achievement points either.

    WoW is just a boring collection game now...
  1. Trbn's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Gadzooks View Post
    The "Gogogogogogo" crowd wins again. Participation must be really low for them to abandon the mechanics like this.
    well, it's not the players who made island exp a race with cheating AI
  1. Drusin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sencha View Post
    I don't care about achievement points either.

    WoW is just a boring collection game now...
    Boring is a matter of opinion. I was bored doing M Progression so I quit and I don't anymore. Now I mostly level alts and collect stuffs


    Thanks for the change and clarification hidden Blizz employees
  1. Tanidor's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Explicit Teemo Nudes View Post
    Well, one could also suggest that you're the selfish one for wanting everyone else to kill the mobs you want to kill instead of taking the most efficient route to complete the island in time.

    - - - Updated - - -
    Never said I don't finish the expedition on time. I always plan on doing that. But one can do both at the same time. If running past a bunch of mobs that has a chance to drop a toy/ mount, you can target that mob and rare easily. It's about teamwork. Unfortunately not anymore.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Th3Scourge View Post
    You mean they cut down from 13 class sets + recolours + generic PVP sets + PVP reskins. Plus 36 legion artifacts + 4 unique models + 4 reskins per model




    But that's ok, we get battle pets instead!
    in legion we got sets redskin again and again in bfa we got sets split by horde and alliance that wernt just reskins for leveling, pvp, warfronts, raids, and were not just taking the same sets recolored again into the second raid and dungeons. Bfa has lets tier sets sure but it has more sets every where else.
  1. Stormykitten's Avatar
    Probably a good change with the islands, however the problem remains that the main reward is azerite, a non-reward mechanic that is only there to gate the weekly progress of your Progress Quest (sorry, you're more fun than it, i apologize) AP bar moving forwards on the neck. The content is also mob/rare grinding in a scenario, which can be fine but it's quite tedious to repeat without a variety of events, so let's hope that's being worked on.
  1. Palemoon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tanidor View Post
    Ooh I like this new change. Absolutely agree. Way too many groups did not care about the cosmetics or mounts. There is major selfishness in many players. They feel they don't need it, or already have it, and almost on PURPOSE avoid those specific inhabitants.
    If you're joining a group specifically created to farm rares for toys, then it is indeed selfish behavior.

    If you're using the random group finder, don't expect people to be there for anything but getting the island done as fast as possible in order to get their weekly cap. There's absolutely nothing selfish about that.
  1. Sencha's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Drusin View Post
    Now I mostly level alts and collect stuffs
    Collecting stuffs... I really don't get where the fun is in collecting things you'll never use. And paying a monthly sub for that.
  1. valax's Avatar
    what a crock of shit.... seriously? I'd like to know what that threshold was , I bet something lke 5% MAX... guess that will go away , have fun running thousands of IE with an even lower streamlined drop chance . So bold to even call it an improvement.. lol poor us..
  1. Palemoon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by valax View Post
    what a crock of shit.... seriously? I'd like to know what that threshold was , I bet something lke 5% MAX... guess that will go away , have fun running thousands of IE with an even lower streamlined drop chance . So bold to even call it an improvement.. lol poor us..
    Why wouldn't it be an improvement?

    Old system: Kill x mobs of type y to get your 5% drop chance for that category
    New system: Have mobs of type y on your island? 5% drop chance for that category

    With the chance increased by dificulty (and the 5% being a completely random number)
  1. Rhelyo's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Th3Scourge View Post
    You mean they cut down from 13 class sets + recolours + generic PVP sets + PVP reskins. Plus 36 legion artifacts + 4 unique models + 4 reskins per model




    But that's ok, we get battle pets instead!

    Dude wth u stole my avatar.


    jk i dont mind.
  1. mmoc024535e5c7's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Melius View Post
    over 1000 island exped and still no mount. oh well hope this gets better in 8.1
    WHAT? |You 've done 1000 expeditions? For real?
    I got like 30, never got anything, got bored , never did it again
  1. orca2425's Avatar
    what ever happened the the smart ai system.. where it reads what you have ?
  1. valax's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Palemoon View Post
    Why wouldn't it be an improvement?

    Old system: Kill x mobs of type y to get your 5% drop chance for that category
    New system: Have mobs of type y on your island? 5% drop chance for that category

    With the chance increased by dificulty (and the 5% being a completely random number)
    Because knowing blizzard they will set the current max threshold to mythic and lower chances on normal and heroic , mythic IE sucks ass making the farm 10x boring
  1. TracyM's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sencha View Post
    Pet battles, pets, toys, mounts, transmog...

    Has WoW turned into a game for girls?
    It's ALWAYS been a game for girls. Guys play it too, of course

    Why do you think having fun things in a game makes it more for girls?
  1. lolbubble's Avatar
    Shitty expansion is fixed!

    /s

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