World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Flying
We have to make a lot of decisions when it comes to building and maintaining such a massive world that's near and dear to so many people. We always try to do what's best for the game, all the while listening to how the community is responding along the way. In some situations our point of view shifts as we share in discourse with players. It's all case by case, and at no point is it implied that we're going to design by democracy rather than follow our own collaborative expertise and instincts. But, to put it in motivational poster terms...

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

So what you're saying is because pro-flight couldn't change their minds, you gave up on progressing the game for the better with your development mindset of experiencing the content from the ground floor? Pro-flight destroyed this game going forward. Got it. Thanks.
For years now I've found it to be a such a strange honor to be followed around the internet by expert interpreters, who take plain words in English and replace them with other, more loaded words in English.

Whenever I read a reply to me that starts with, "So what you're saying is..." -- and I've read so, so many -- my first thought is, "What I'm saying is what I'm saying, otherwise I would've said something else."

Forums ≠ Community. 7 Million people play this game. Not many people look at the US Forums/3rd party websites nor even know there is a flying argument going on. The people who don't look at the Forums/3rd party websites may have a entirely different view about flying, but simply don't respond.
You're absolutely right! The listening and discourse extends far beyond the forums, fansites, and social media.

I think they did it to feed the lions before the dev guy does the q&a on Saturday.
Not exactly. We wanted to lock in our decision before hosting the Q&A, because a lot of people were clearly tired of wishy-washy answers on the subject.

Who wouldn't be exactly? sounds like you guys were forced into making the blog when it should have just been a standard of business practice to clearly communicate solid answers
That's an awesome ideal to which we always aspire. But we're also not a hive mind over here. We grappled with the topic as well. And from the beginning we tried to make it clear to the community that we didn't have a final answer -- we were discussing it with the community, as well as internally. We wanted this to be known; but when a clear answer took us too long to supply many people spun it as us kicking the can down the road, or stringing players along.

It has definitely been a learning experience for us. Proof of our infallibility remains elusive! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Flying and Patch 6.2.x
When is patch 6.2.x? No one knows.

We won't get flying after we've completed the requirements for it. We will get flying when they put in the patch if we've completed the requirements for it. Blizzard can still take their time about putting flying into current content, and they can still string people along for their subs until then.
The reality is that we don't think it's good for anyone for us to delay Patch 6.2 further to implement this. When it comes to building, testing, and deploying patches, such a change this late in the PTR cycle is far from trivial. More broadly, it's very much a fact that, in a world of production processes and development pipelines, results on a change in design decision like this can't be immediate.

Whether or not you believe this to be truthful is inconsequential. We've explained to the community our change in decision and how we'll go about implementing that change, purely to update everyone and inform you. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Ghostcrawler
So when exactly is blizzard going to go crawling to Ghostcrawler and beg him to work for them again?
I mean just look at the nosedive the game took after the great ones depature
I miss him as a colleague and friend. But he'd also be among the first to tell you that the design process for World of Warcraft is very much collaborative, and that he got most of the attention (good or bad) because of his public presence.

The WoW development team numbers in the hundreds, but only a very small handful are spokespeople plucked for interviews or other public-facing discussions.

People like to paint this picture of Ghostcrawler as once steering the great ship that is World of Warcraft, and Watcher taking the wheel in the wake of his departure. The perception just doesn't match the reality. Both of these gentlemen have spoken on behalf of many designers, but that doesn't mean it has been their individual visions being brought to fruition by the rest of the team.

So, you're a collective? Lead designer doesn't really do anything more than bring "order to chaos.". He doesn't actually guide th ship?
Well, no, it's not a development commune either. There are multiple positions with varying levels of responsibility, and developers, or teams of developers, reporting to other developers in a tiered structure.

And there are many lead designers (Greg was a lead designer; Ion is a lead designer). They lead teams like the UI team, software engineering team, class/systems design team, dungeon design team, quest design team, etc.

Using the art team as an example, you have artists and senior artists in each discipline. Then you have leads to whom the individuals on each art team report, such as the lead environment artist, lead character artist, lead dungeon artist, lead concept artist, lead animator, lead prop artist, lead level designer, etc. Overseeing all of these artists is the art director. (Side note: I shared brief, but delightful small talk with art director Chris Robinson in the elevator today. He's a good dude.)

The same is true for the development team as a whole, with Tom Chilton as the game director and J. Allen Brack as the production director.

In the most basic of terms -- not basic for your sake, but for my own -- the design teams work together to figure out what they want to do, and the production teams help ensure developers stay coordinated, as well as manage tasks by priority and enforce deadlines. And, during this part of the process, the community team acts in an advisory role to ensure that community feedback is taken into account along the way.

Some things that may seem very simple from an outsider perspective may entail much more complicated work. A designer wants to implement X. Does it need new tech from our software engineers? Does it need new UI elements? Does it need new artwork? Will X need new localization strings for each language version of the game? Is it going to interfere with, or break, something else in the game? If the answer's "yes" to any of those, do the appropriate designers have time to work on it now, or are they already tasked with higher-priority assignments? Producers help sort all of that out and, depending on the situation, assign a milestone accordingly (i.e. for 6.1, 6.2, 6.2.x, etc. development cycles).

At some point, after countless hours of work by hundreds of people, long days, much coffee, and many internal test builds of the game, we prepare to deploy a patch like 6.2. That's around the time that Ion Hazzikostas, Cory Stockton, Dave Kosak, and some of the other leads sit down with press and fansites to talk about 6.2. That's around the time that we publish numerous articles and statements about the new content or evolving design, or to go into further depth about the philosophies behind the new content or evolving design. That's around the time some people latch onto the names of those lead designers and either credit them, or fault them, for just about everything.

It's a big game and a complicated process. We don't get everything right, whether it be in design or communications. But, as someone who gets to see the inner workings everyday, I can tell you that it's a grand machine, finely oiled by the blood, sweat, and tears of all the people working here.

Unless I'm misreading it, Watcher has the same position the Ghostrcrawler did: Lead Designer. And there are many lead designers (Greg was a lead designer; Ion is a lead designer).
In many ways, yes. A while back Ion's title changed from lead encounter designer to lead game designer, because he does a lot more than just oversee what the encounter design team is creating. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Developer Communication and Twitter
Is 140 characters at a time the new attention span of the audience or the developers?
Your question only took 88 characters so you can judge for yourself.

They had attempted to communicate with Twitter because it was faster
Partially this...

I think 140 characters is a good way to force people to get to the point
Partially this except "encourage" is a better word.

Twitter is another avenue in which we can promote the game, provide updates, and respond to folks. Yes, the shorter format is often helpful, but it can also be ignored and thus we tend to get long rants broken up into several tweets. My team and I sift through them every day and communicate them to developers who provide us with insights and answers. Where appropriate, we respond and make sure to also post them here on the forums for those who would rather get information from our site than from Twitter. Win win! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Patch 6.2 Change to Shadowform Visual
As a priest player myself I like the option. I've always wanted to disable the effect as I don't like the way most mounts look with shadow form applied, and there's a Glyph to change the functionality to still apply it if I want.

I like having more options. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Timewalking
Just make sure, will proc rate reductions on things (such as using cloak at 100) be removed if you're scaled down?
Yes, the cloak proc rate would be based on your scaled-down level. (WarcraftDevs)

PvE
In Flamebender Kargaz fight, guardian spirit doesnt save a person with a molten torrent debuff. Is this intended?
Guardian Spirit’s damage prevention is capped at double the recipient’s maximum health. (WarcraftDevs)

PvP
Can I get 1 piece from Ashran quest and 1 piece from RBGs (2 total) in the same week?
Each activity rewards a piece of gear, so you can earn two. (WarcraftDevs)

We appreciate the spirited discussion on the topic of flying. The subject has brought out passionate viewpoints and sparked insightful conversations on our official forums and blogs, on community sites, and in chat channels. Your feedback has been a valuable part of the ongoing conversations within Blizzard as well, and today, we’d like to share some updated plans for how we’ll handle flight going forward.

The Thrill of Discovery
At the heart of the initial plan to restrict flight in Draenor (even after players reach level 100) lies the design goal of providing the best moment-to-moment gameplay possible in the outdoor world. From navigating the lava flows of the Molten Front in Patch 4.2, to breaching the Thunder King’s stronghold in Patch 5.2, to reaching the heights of the Ordon Sanctuary on Timeless Isle in Patch 5.4, to uncovering secrets deep within Gorgrond’s jungles on Draenor, World of Warcraft is full of memorable moments that are only possible when players explore the world by ground. And as we’ve continued to develop content over the years, we’ve focused more and more on providing players with these kinds of experiences.

However, while we firmly believe that keeping your feet on the ground is a key part of discovery in WoW, we also recognize that breaking free from those restrictions can be fun and rewarding as well, especially for those who’ve already fully experienced the game’s world content. With that in mind, we’re planning some changes in the near future that will allow players to enjoy their hard-earned flying mounts in Draenor—in a way that doesn’t compromise the excitement of ground-based exploration.

Mastering the Outdoor World
In an upcoming Public Test Realm build, we will be introducing a new meta-achievement called Draenor Pathfinder. You’ll earn this achievement in Patch 6.2 by mastering the outdoor environment of Draenor—exploring Draenor’s zones, collecting 100 treasures in Draenor, completing the Draenor Loremaster and Securing Draenor achievements, and raising the three new Tanaan Jungle reputations to Revered. Initially, this achievement will award a rylak mount: the Soaring Skyterror, one of the native beasts that roam Draenor’s skies. Players will remain ground-bound on Draenor until a small follow-up patch (6.2.x), when all players who have earned Draenor Pathfinder on at least one character will unlock the ability to fly in Draenor on all their level 90+ characters.

We believe this strikes the right balance between ensuring ground-based content lives up to its full potential, while providing players who’ve already fully experienced Draenor’s outdoor world extra freedom to “break the rules.” This also provides a general blueprint going forward for content to come. Players will explore new and undiscovered lands from the ground, and then once they’ve fully mastered those environments—a notion that continues to evolve with each new expansion—they can take to the skies and experience the world from a new vantage point.

Thank you for your heartfelt feedback. We’ll see you in (and soon, above) Tanaan Jungle.

Hey everyone!

We've reached a point in 6.2 testing where going forward, builds deployed to PTR are going to be flagged as "release" versions. This won't affect much in terms of content for Public Testers, however it will disable certain test-realm only features in preparation for retail launch, namely in-game Character Copy. Existing characters will not be affected and the feature will return after 6.2 testing has completed.

As always, thank you all for helping us test 6.2 PTR!

After an in intense season of conflict in Arenas and Battlegrounds, the time is coming soon to see who has climbed to the top of the PvP ranks. Prepare to fight your last battles of this season, and remember—there is no substitute for victory!

With the upcoming release of Patch 6.2, Arena and Rated Battleground Season 16 will be ending. Once the patch is live, we'll begin a roughly two-week process to determine end-of-season reward eligibility.

All players who believe that they may have qualified for PvP Season 16 awards should note the following:

• In order to ensure you receive your award(s), please refrain from transferring your character(s) to another realm or faction until after PvP Season 16 has ended.
• PvP Season 16 titles and mounts will be awarded approximately two weeks after the season ends.

Conquest Points will be converted to Honor Points at the end of the season, and any Honor above 4,000 will be converted to in-game currency at a rate of 35 silver per point. A few other things to keep in mind once the season has ended:

• The Honor cap will remain at 4,000.
• Season 16 items with rating requirements will no longer be available for purchase.
• Rated Battleground and Arena matches will not be available during the break between seasons.
• We will confirm the start date of the forthcoming Season 17 in a post here in the weeks to come.

In war, you win or lose, live or die—and the difference is but an eyelash. To the battlefield!