World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Now that Cataclysm is out in the wild, more players are getting gearing up and checking out Tol Barad, the new outdoor PvP zone. Today, we wanted to address some of the concerns players have expressed about the zone, including how challenging it can be to win as the attacking team, and provide some insight into our design approach. We also wanted to share some of the lessons we learned from Wintergrasp, discuss the difference between the two zones, and touch upon the recent hotfixes made to Honor Point gains and how we plan to improve Tol Barad going forward. We're confident this zone will provide meaningful and fun PvP for some time to come, but we also recognize additional tuning is required to ensure Tol Barad is everything we intend it to be.

As we mentioned earlier, the attacking faction is having a pretty tough time winning control of Tol Barad -- and we're OK with that, at least in theory. Here's why: When we set out to create Wintergrasp, one of the issues we dealt with was that we were never able to ensure the sides were even -- in fact, they rarely were. Because the smaller team would almost always be assured defeat, we attempted to address team-size imbalance by favoring the attacker. Control of Wintergrasp went back and forth, and the result was that battles lost their impact. On most realms the defenders became complacent, knowing they were likely to lose control of the zone, returning to re-take it when it was their turn to attack. The sides swapped back and forth every few hours, and Wintergrasp wasn’t so much about an epic struggle for a meaningful piece of land as it was a complicated game of leapfrog.

Since then we’ve devised mechanics that help ensure equal team sizes, and we've taken Wintergrasp's lessons to heart when we designed Tol Barad. Tol Barad is intentionally balanced so that it’s a challenge for the attackers, because we want to make sure that control of Tol Barad matters. For the defenders, there’s a sense of urgency that Wintergrasp didn't have -- if you lose it, you’re going to have a hell of a time taking it back. For the attackers, there are a number of rewards at stake -- such as access to the Baradin Hold raid and additional daily quests -- that we hope players feel are worth fighting for. That sort of tension is what we wanted from Wintergrasp, and what we believe Tol Barad can ultimately offer.

With that being said, we want winning Tol Barad to be a challenge for the attacking faction... but we don't want it to be impossible. Taking Tol Barad should be tough -- but right now it’s a little bit too tough, and it’s something we’re actively working to balance. Earlier, we attempted to temporarily address the issue by offering a far better reward to the winning attackers: Honor Points awarded for successfully attacking were increased tenfold, but that was such a great incentive that it ultimately undermined the spirit of competition. Since then, the reward for winning as an attacker has been brought back down to a more reasonable amount.

While we've already made minor adjustments to improve the gameplay and address select exploits, our job in Tol Barad is far from over. We ultimately want to make sure that any changes we make are all steps in the right direction, and we intend to make several updates in the next minor patch to address design and balance issues affecting attackers that we can't address with hotfixes. For example, we plan to alter the battle slightly so that a team with two bases captured can more quickly and easily capture the third, as opposed to a team with one or zero bases. This way, if the defenders turtle up, it'll be a little easier for the attackers to take their last base before the defense can take one of the attackers' other bases.

We've been reading your feedback, watching trends across our global realms, and fighting plenty of battles in Tol Barad ourselves to get a feel for what's working and what isn't, and we're committed to making Tol Barad a fun and engaging zone. We want owning the zone to be meaningful throughout the lifespan of the expansion -- and while the attackers may always face somewhat of an uphill battle, the defenders should feel much more pressure not to lose than they do currently. Just the same, the attacking faction should feel motivated to take Tol Barad back, but they shouldn't feel that the odds are insurmountable. So keep fighting the good fight, and we'll continue watching the battlefield and listening to your feedback.

Cory "Mumper" Stockton is the lead content designer on World of Warcraft and enjoys a good set of LEGOs.

Heroic Dungeons Difficulty
I don't believe we ever said we refuse to nerf Heroic dungeons. What we've been trying communicate is that it wasn't our plan to make sweeping nerfs to Heroics within the first month of the expansion's release. We will continue tuning dungeons, trash, boss encounters, and abilities. Some of those changes will involve nerfs. This act just shouldn't be misconstrued as us changing our minds, or a sign that we're unhappy with the general level of difficulty of all Heroics.

We don't think it was a mistake to start with the difficulty we did. We're happy overall with the progression path we have in Cataclysm. I think we've set an appropriate standard for this expansion, but we'll continue fine-tuning things (nerfs and buffs) to make sure the end game feels right as time passes. (Source)

Baradin Hold Access
We don't have plans to allow both factions to access Baradin Hold, regardless of who controls Tol Barad. We do have some balance adjustments we'll be making to Tol Barad gameplay in patch 4.0.6 though. They just haven't been listed in the patch notes as of yet. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Demonic Empowerment / Turn Evil Bug
Thanks for the report, Yingyang. We're aware of it and looking into exactly what Demonic Empowerment should and should not counter. It feels a bit inconsistent right now. (Source)

General

• All guild banners now reward bonus reputation in addition to honor and experience.

Dungeons & Raids

• Level 85 players can now choose any normal dungeon via the Dungeon Finder. Choosing Random Dungeon will still not add these lower-level dungeons into the rotation.

The Vortex Pinnacle

• The wind direction and fun coefficient of the Cyclones that appear in Heroic difficulty during the Altairus encounter have improved clarity.

PvP
Strand of the Ancients

• The Teleporters on defense will now teleport players based on which line of gates have been destroyed, rather than directly behind that gate. For example, if a player clicks the Teleporter at the Blue gate when one of the beach gates has been destroyed, it will put the player behind the Red gate.

Classes
Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Inquisition is no longer dispellable.
• Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.

Holy

• Denounce now has a spell overlay.

Retribution

• The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.
• Zealotry is no longer dispellable.

Bug Fixes

• Word of Glory will no longer reset the swing timer.

Professions
Archaeology

• Archaeology fragments now have a hard cap of 200 per race. Players will not be able to collect additional fragments until they complete artifacts to take them down below 200 fragments. Players with more than 200 fragments will not lose additional fragments in 4.0.6, but in a future patch we may remove any fragments above 200.

Jewelcrafting

• Meta gems with the Chaotic and Relentless prefixes now have a requirement of 3 red gems.
• New meta gems have been added: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (Agility/3% critical damage), Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond (Strength/3% critical damage), and Burning Shadowspirit Diamond (Intellect/3% critical damage). These new recipes are unbound and can drop from any Cataclysm creature. The new meta gems have a requirement of 3 red gems equipped.

Items

• The cooldown on the Horde Battle Standard has been adjusted to 10 minutes to be consistent with the Alliance version.

User Interface

• Players can now individually remove raid world markers.
• The Reputation Pane now saves which reputation categories are expanded or collapsed.

Character Info Window

• The Haste display on the Character Info window (C) now shows the total haste percentage, rather than only haste from haste rating.

Unit Frames

• Predicted healing (previously only available for Raid Frames and raid-style Party Frames) has been added to the following unit frames: Player Frame, Party Frame, Target Frame, Focus Frame.

Addon Changes

• Canceling buffs are only restricted during combat.
• The direction of spell flyouts are set via attribute.
• Console commands have been added to the login screens: ExportInterfaceFiles art, ExportInterfaceFiles code.

Quests & Creatures
Tol Barad Peninsula

• Quest turn-in NPCs have been added to Baradin Base Camp and Hellscream's Reach in Tol Barad Peninsula for the Tol Barad bonus quests. This will allow players to turn in these quests if the original quest givers in Tol Barad are not available.
• Kill credit for the Tol Barad bonus quest bosses will now be granted to players who have helped attack them, even if they are not in the same group. These bosses include Problim, Archmage Galus, Warden Silva, and Svarnos.
• The Farson Keep Prisoner summoned for the quest "Walk A Mile In Their Shoes" will now only be visible to the player who summoned him.

Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.

January 6

Classes
Death Knight (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Ghouls do not gain Shadow Infusion when Death Coil is cast during the preparation phase of an Arena or rated Battleground match, making it impossible to use Dark Transformation before the game starts. Shadow Infusion and Dark Transformation both work normally after the preparation phase.

Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Hunters can no longer sometimes activate multiple aspects at once through the use of Camouflage. Very sneaky.

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Paladins using Divine Shield are now able to cast on targets within the same Smoke Bomb effect area, as well as heal others.

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Casting Flash Heal while under the effects of both Surge of Light and Inner Focus will now only consume Surge of Light.

Warrior (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Warriors can no longer teleport when using Charge with the Tahret Dynasty Mallet.

Dungeons & Raids
The Bastion of Twilight

• It is no longer possible to outrange the Halfus Wyrmbreaker drakes without being attacked by melee. The drakes now reposition themselves correctly in order to regain the capability to melee the target.
• Twilight Phase-Twister's Twist Phase ability now has an initial cast delay of 7 seconds, up from 5, and a cast time of roughly 8 seconds, up from 6.

Blackrock Caverns

• The Evolution aura during the Corla encounter now displays its warning visual on players at 74 stacks, instead of 82.

Deadmines

• Shapeshifted characters should no longer be unable to jump on the rope during the Vanessa VanCleef encounter. They will now be pulled out of a shapeshift form automatically. In addition, players should no longer lose pets when jumping on the rope (they will respawn when the player lands after swinging). Please note that until a client-side patch can be applied, an inappropriate aura will be displayed when pet classes or shapeshifted characters use the rope. The tooltip of this aura will read "Delicious Aura (UNUSED REUSE) / Instant / Delicious food increases haste by 10%" and can be disregarded, as it does not provide a haste buff. It's an aura of free word association... Enjoy!

Lost City of the Tol'vir

• Tamed Tol'vir Prowlers now have regular loot and Skinning tables, instead of epic-quality loot.

Throne of the Four Winds

• Al'akir's Static Shock now does 5,000 damage and only interrupts the spell the player is casting at that moment. It doesn't lock out the caster and only casts every 5 seconds or so.

Items

• Darkmoon Card: Tsunami now properly procs Giant Wave when basic heal-over-time spells are cast.

Professions
Jewelcrafting

• Shaman were unable to obtain Design: Figurine - Demon Panther from Neferset Looters. This has been corrected.

PvP
Strand of the Ancients

• Demolishers now spawn at about the same moment that the boats reach the docks in the second round.

Tol Barad

• If a player is already in Tol Barad and does not join the battle, the player will be ported back to the camp.
• Using /afk ejects players out of the raid and back to the camp.
• Entering Tol Barad via the bridge during an active battle by joining the queue will port the player to the correct starting place of the battle, but players who do not join the queue will be ported back to the camp.
• Both the Hellscream's Reach Battle Standard and the Baradin's Wardens Battle Standard now have a 10-minute cooldown.

Quests & Creatures
Tol Barad

• The spawn rates of all three Tol Barad quest micro dungeons have been adjusted to a more reasonable level. This should alleviate the issues players were having with creatures respawning too quickly.
• The escorted Farson Keep Prisoner for the quest "Walk A Mile In Their Shoes" no longer engages in combat with opposing faction players.

Twilight Highlands

• If reinforcements are not called after 60 seconds, Skullcrusher the Mountain will now despawn. When reinforcements are called, Skullcrusher no longer improperly despawns.

Uldum

• The Ramkahen Guardians now correctly melee, throw nets to snare characters, and utilize knock-back shots with their bows when they are unable to path to the target.