World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

Creatures

• The Celestials (Chi-Ji, Niuzao, Xuen, and Yu'lon) have their health reduced to 25% of original health. If more than 10 players from the same faction are engaged with the Celestial, their health will scale up. The health increase will cap at 100% of their original health with 40 players.

CC in Warlords of Draenor
We are planning to take a strong look at CC in Warlords with the intent of dialing things back a little. We do think it's important that players are rewarded for using CC intelligently (by coordinating usage, being mindful of diminishing returns, etc), but we think we can approach things in a way that allows us to tone down CC overall while still providing that gameplay. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Daze Effect
Oh man! Remember when it was based on Defense so tanks could essentially run anywhere and never get dazed but us cloth wearers would be in dazed-city? Crazy. Although they had to pay more repairs back then too. XD

Don't hear too much about it these days though, kind of a fun discussion to have again! In-general the world should be dangerous, and when you can ride through it unaffected, or have guaranteed escapes, it loses some of that danger. It's a lot of the same reasoning for non-flying in new content. Sure, you can still escape many situations, and there are still some get-out-of-jail-free cards, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to remove all of the situations which cause you to be cautious, plan travel routes, and have to play your character in this Roleplaying Game. We think the daze mechanic still serves its useful purpose. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

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As previously announced, we’ve been working toward connecting realms to increase the number of players on low-population realms, and since then have completed several connections.

Future Connections
We do not have a date for the following realm connections, but will update this blog post when we do.

Next ​​Batch

• Andorhal and Ursin
  
• Crushridge and Anub'arak/Chromaggus/Garithos/Nathrezim/Smolderthorn
  
• Icecrown and Malygos
  
• Quel'dorei and Sen'jin

​Plans for these connections may change at any time, but we’ll provide additional updates on specific dates for future connections here as we can. Please note that as a part of the connection process realm times may change to match each other.

Professions
Also if sockets that uncommon do you have plans to rebalance profession perks or just ignore for another expansion?
I'd like to cut them TBH. Not sure we can pull that off. (Source)

I can't remember...were professions discussed with the instant 90s?
We likely need some solution, but aren't crazy about just "choose which prof you want at max." (Source)

Lore
Why are there no female Warlords of Draenor? You couldn't have come up with a single one?
Their identities already established in the lore. We could have replaced one, but that might have felt transparent. (Source)

"Gameplay trumps lore." "We want to let you play with friends." So when can my gnome play with my RealID friend's blood elf?
Having two factions also produces good gameplay. It was a conscious decision not dictated by lore. (Source)

so we got suspended from Heroes to Soldiers again. Feels wrong! Do you think about Lore when you make such Decisions?
We are crafting the story so hopefully you feel like heroes. That is why you are asked to return to the dark portal. (Source)
That is why you command the garrison. If being heroic meant you could not be threatened, the game would be boring. (Source)

UI / Addons
This is NOT a full group finder system. These are some moderate updates to the current system that people may find useful.
Takes our crappy old raid browser and enables some cross realm functionality. Still doing a new Group Finder for 6.0. (Source)
To be fair, it needs to be a LFM and not LFG thus the need for oqueue. Hopefully blizzard realizes this
Random matchmaking and pug forming are two different and valuable features with different audiences. (Source)

Warlords of Draenor and Spirit
Saying spirit isn't a base-line stat for healers is incorrect...Unless you're going to implement a system that replaces it
You guys can call it anything you want. We say Int is the primary stat for healers. (Source)
So, will there be a plate piece that has Primary/Mastery/Spirit say? Primary int/str spirit stays for dps even?
No Spirit on plate (or leather or mail or cloth). Spirit is only on accessories + weapons. (Source)
Sorry if that wasn't clear. Seems like we should have spent more time on this at Blizzcon. (Source)

Disappointing. Spirits such an interesting stat, feels like on such few pieces we'll lack customization.
But each piece can have more Spirit. So unless you really fine tune Spirit (rare in my experience) you can still customize. (Source)
You might want Spirit on 4 slots and I might want it on 2. You can gem it too if you have any gem slots. (Source)

So we'll still see Spirit Cloth/Leather/Mail/Plate? It sounds like the change won't do much for healer gearing.
A Healadin would have Int on chest, helm etc. and Spirit on some rings, trinkets, cloak, neck, sword and shield. (Source)

If you want to stack Spirit, get it on all those pieces. But you shouldn't need that much. Spirit will not appear on gloves, hats, etc. (Source)
I thought I needed way more than I had, but once I gemmed and enchanted for it, my mana pool was fine.
Some healers feel the need to stack Spirit in every slot. That's not the intent, or necessary, but to each their own. (Source)
You have no clue about healing GC. Spirit is the most important stat for healers, more than Int.
I've healed every fight in the game (without Spirit in every slot) but keep making those arguments! (Source)
if spirit doesn’t come on hats, gloves etc. and you say we don’t need it on trinket, ring etc. where do we get it then?
You'll get some on rings etc. You don't need it on every slot. You don't even need that today. (Source)
Q: would you have enough regen to do "ok" without wearing *any* spirit accessories? (i.e. full dps gear)
Possibly. It's not fun when you have starter gear (i.e. low Spirit) and constantly run OOM just healing a dungeon. (Source)

Nerfing flying. Nerfing manareg in healing. Anything else?
No, we aren't nerfing mana regen for healing. We're adjusting how many slots you need with Spirit to achieve reasonable regen. (Source)

When this was announced, it was said that spirit plate only gets the paladins excited. Still the case in WoD? Was hoping not.
There is no Spirit plate. There are Spirit rings, but all healers can use those. Spirit axes might still be rare. (Source)

That'd be good if spirit was useful on classes like Mages.
We want healers to have claim on those pieces so they aren't competing for every slot, (Source)

With Spirit being a secondary stat, what is the actual use of dynamic primary stats? Still need seperate DPS/Heal sets, no?
To min/max you'll want different rings etc. But if you need to e.g. heal a fight or are rerolling to heals, you'll be better off. (Source)
Today you would need all different pieces. In 6.0 your armor pieces are still usable, unless you value very different secondaries. (Source)

Spirit is healer only, won't change like Int / Str. Hit gone Spirit does zip for anyone else. Still healer only gear. Why?
Bonus armor has very limited value to DPS in PvE since boss AE damage is rarely physical. (Source)
There will be DPS trinkets with limited value to healers. Again we are talking about 7-8 slots max vs 15-16 today. (Source)

or en Ele shaman wouldnt be able to heal in ele gear if it doesnt have spirit on it
The most mana hungry healer would want Spirit on rings, neck, cloak, trinkets and weapon, assuming they had won all those pieces (Source)
it's more likely you could heal with say just weapon, trinkets and a ring, which is only 4 slots. (Source)
And even then, you *could* DPS with those pieces. They might still be better than lower ilevel spots with no Spirit. (Source)

Misc
May i ask what you actually play a game for? To work at a construction line or to have fun?
To have fun obviously. But overcoming some level of challenge is often more fun. (Source)

As much as I love laser light shows, is there any chance well be able to turn off other people's spell effects in the future?
We have been trending towards making your fx look awesome while chilling out those from others. (Source)

Ghostcrawler's Departure
I was Lead Systems Designer most of the time I was on WoW. I split lead duties with Cory as Lead Content Designer. (Source)
Both of us reported to the Game Director, Tom Chilton, Kalgan. Nearly every decision any of us made was by consensus. (Source)

GC, you'll still be playing though, right? Also, it turns out all those players saying you played mage were wrong haha.
Yes, I'm not quitting the game. Just no longer designing it. (Source)

True. But how many universities and colleges had decent game development/software engineering programs 10-15 years ago?
First, I've been in this business for 16 years. Second, look at game devs you admire. How many have a degree in game design? Likely 0. (Source)
None. That is actually my point. What degree are we old farts supposed to have? (Source)
Gee, thanks for that. Nothing like insulting people you don't even know.
It wasn't intended as an insult. Degrees in game development are a pretty new thing. I am not. (Source)
I have one of those degrees. 4 shipped titles, 2 of which are Skylanders games. It sounds like the stuff I hear all the time.
That's awesome. I actually love Skylanders. (Source)

You'll find out my future plans soon enough. For now, let's let this be about World of Warcraft. Warlords is going to be SAVAGE and EPIC. (Source)
Any chance you will at least tell us if it is gaming related or not?
I'm not leaving the industry. (Source)

I would not expect many changes to the game as a result of my departure. We always design from a place of consensus and collaboration. (Source)

I'm just curious did you know about your departure from blizzard pre blizzcon?
Yes. (Source)

Are you going to stick around on Twitter in some form? Hate to see you disappear.
I'll stick around though I'm not sure my insights will be as valuable in the future. (Source)

do you think a game design degree is a bad idea?
No. (Source)

I wish you all the best... it's a shame Blizzard is losing someone as passionate as you. It won't quite be the same now
I appreciate it, but Blizzard has a ton of passionate folks. I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving if WoW wasn't in good hands. (Source)

Greg will you stay with Blizz til WoD releases?
I'm afraid not, but it's in very good hands. (Source)

What is the 'feature' you were hoping for. Sans NDA. Thanks for making the best you could.
I can't tell you, because I hope they'll still do it! (Source)

Lots of things have been claimed as the imminent death of WoW, but this talk of you leaving is the first I actually believe.
No way. I'm very confident in the direction of Warlords. I'll be playing it with you guys. (Source)

A HOLY PRIEST?!?!
True story. Everyone seems to think I was trolling. My mage is like level 86. (Source)

good luck on your future travels. But who are the forum QQers going to QQ at now? :P
They'll find another name and still miss the point that Blizzard designs as a collective. (Source)

I am leaving on good terms with all of my friends at Blizzard and I'm still going to be playing WoW. (Source)
The internet loves to play detective, but in this case it was a great opportunity and time to move on. I wasn't fired or asked to step down. (Source)
And leaving certainly has nothing to do with the community. WoW has a great community. We never took you all for granted. (Source)
The next time someone kicks your butt in DPS, you can wonder... was that GC? (Source)

Character / Items
Is your intent for hybrids to have to carry spare gear or can we get a glyph or something that makes armor/spirit boost dps?
Less extra gear than you do today for sure. (Source)

In Warlords of Draenor, are crafted items likely to be able to acquire the bonus stats/socket?
Considering that just so they can compete. (Source)

A little confused what tanks will gear for on normal items? Mastery/Haste?
Yes, and even crit and other stats. (Source)

I'm assuming gems and enchants will still have spirit options, even though we're paring down. Correct?
Gems, yes. Still debating exact enchanting mechanics. (Source)

you can literally double your dps from one pull to another with different trinket rng right now. Not fun.
That's all a problem with the pull though. Otherwise RNG variance evens out over the course of a fight. (Source)
We want to make the "line up all CDs do do 50% of your DPS in the first 10 sec" thing go away. (Source)
I feel like Stormlash, Skull Banner and Prepot are huge contributors. Would be ok with all of them disappearing.
Except for prepot, none of the CDs offend us alone. It's the synergistic effect that is out of control. (Source)
Yet rules about X not working while Y is active can also be annoying, so it's not a simple fix. (Source)
Sure it is! Just don't add so many cooldowns to the game! If you see two spells too similar on 1 class, axe one
That pitch would mean no Recklessness for Fury or GoaK for Ret. Think there would be no outrage? (Source)

Shouldn't DPS roles in raid be rewarded for following trinket procs? I default UI still and have no problems being in top 98%+
Yeah, totally. That's the point of having them proc. The pendulum just swung too far the other way. (Source)

and all trinkets/CDs on the pull is fun/interesting, not having anything proc in the opener is boring and lowers skillcap.
Again, disagree that it's skillful. It might be fun to see big numbers but it's frustrating when you don't get the big numbers. (Source)
We then get pressure to basically insure that you get the big numbers, at which point pulling them off isn't exciting any longer. (Source)
Fixing things like snapshotting and less "on the pull" emphasis can keep it exciting without failure being debilitating. (Source)

PvE
Possible to give pets 15% exp/remove "always behind" in pet AI? Causes many issues that this easily solves
We don't really want pets standing on top of tanks. (Source)

Not sure right person to ask, but will there be any change about asia's different lockout and ilvl things in WoD?
Our hope is Asia can use the same model now. It will support multiple raid lockouts, which the current system does. (Source)

So is 1 in 50 players having their guilds merge/disband acceptable casualties? A "courageous" idea
That argument is an easy one to swing around. There are players who liked downranking or spell components. (Source)
But sometimes the game needs to change for the good of the game as as whole, even if individual players don't agree. (Source)

I'm confused on how loot lockouts will work. do normal, heroic and mythic all share a loot lockout?
No. A loot lockout only applies to one difficulty level. Mythic works mostly like heroic today. (Source)

Cant you keep difficulties same as now, adding Mythic on top of it? People wont careas much at that level is all about progres
It is possible to have too many difficulty levels. Aren't you asking for a 7th? (Source)

But do you PREFER to let them decide that? It's often 1 person thinking for the group, w/o consulting them.
That seems like a social issue if you mistrust your guild or pug. (Source)
Even pugs need to have some teeth, or they are just back to LFR's level of no responsibility for anyone. (Source)

Misc
You overuse "depth" like players overuse "clunky."
I'm a former scientist, so I try to use words precisely. "Depth" to me means that there is more going on than first appears. (Source)
That's a useful feature of game design because it plays into easy to learn / difficult to master. (Source)
The problem with "clunky" is many players just use it to mean "I don't like this," which lacks precision. (Source)
Our original, internal use of clunky, which likely spilled out onto the forums, had a precise meaning. (Source)
We originally used "clunky" to mean something that was unintuitive and required extraneous steps to achieve. (Source)
An example could be old Berserker Rage for a tank -- stance dance out of Defensive, break the fear, stance dance back. (Source)

Yes, I agree, swing the nerfbat much much harder at removing cooldowns with dumb visuals :P
Thinking something like GoAK for Prot, wings for Ret, Divine Favor with a better visual for Holy. (Source)
I like it. Guardians should "guard" after all. Does that change Divine Favor mechanically for Holy at all?
I don't know. It was raw idea more than a design. (Source)

I read this all, and I like it, a lot. Good stuff. However, my fear is how this plays out for PvP. For PvE variance in performance based on RNG stats is super cool and creates a sense of non-uniformity, but in PvP you need to be able to expect that class X generally has Y capabilities.
PvP gear will have more stats to choose from, and less worrying about hit caps! PvP Power will likely still exist to make sure PvP gear is powerful without being more powerful than PvE gear in PvE. Additional PvP changes are beyond the scope of this discussion, but we do want to make sure PvE gear doesn’t outstrip PvP gear for world PvP.

Can I just ask what will happen to Spirit for Shadow Priests, where it is now a go to stat because it gets converted to Hit? With Hit going away, will it convert to something else, or will Spirit now be useless for us.
Healers will have increased baseline regen on their character, and each point of Spirit will have higher regeneration effects. As mentioned in the last couple paragraphs, Spirit will be useless to DPS specs, so min-maxers will want to get alternate gear for the few slots they have Spirit in.

One more thought on this...please extend this system to crafted gear, not just boss drops.
Okay!

So what for the peoples who spent a fortune on gems an jewel crafting just to have a useless pro now.
Despite this being a bit beyond the scope of this discussion, we can say that we don’t want to keep a flawed gear design just to ensure revenue for Jewelcrafters. We are, however, considering additional types of things that they could make to offset the need for so many gems.

I dislike the idea that we're going to have to pray to the RNG gods to get gear to drop, and then pray again that our gear has bonuses. I'm not invested in world first content so it likely wont affect me much, but I can imagine world first guilds getting a little peeved because guild X got extra lucky on their drops and had more tertiary stats which helped them progress faster, while guild Z got mostly normal epic drops.
Philosophically, having a random element to gear helps to keep loot feeling exciting instead of reducing it to a checklist you just tick off. We understand that too much randomness can be frustrating, which is why we implemented things like the bad luck streak protection on personal loot and bonus rolls. Do note that secondary stats on gear are not random (other than some random suffix items, which are in the minority). The additional qualities (e.g. Warforged, sockets, tertiary stats) are random and are intended to provide gearing with a long tail. Rather than deny you an important item slot like a weapon, we can make sure you get an item in a reasonable amount of time. However, getting the perfect item is not a foregone conclusion and might take a lot of effort and luck.

The only system where this loot style could work is in the personal loot like lfr. I find it hard to believe that you think that this could realistically work in a normal raid group that uses any type of loot system other than rolling.
LFR will always use personal loot. Normal and Heroic difficulties have the option (raid leader’s call) to use personal loot, or to drop a variable amount of loot based on the number of players. As you add players to a group, the chance of an additional piece of loot dropping will increase until it reaches 100%, at which point there will be a chance for an additional piece beyond that. There should not be any break points at which you are hesitant to add more players. Mythic has a set raid size so will work much as Heroic does today.

Random Player:Will these changes to stats only affect items in Warlords of Draenor, or will older items from, say, Burning Crusade also change?
At this time, changes to gear are planned for drops in Warlords of Draenor. We are, however, considering modifying Siege of Orgrimmar gear to help players make the levelup process as smooth as possible, but aside from the removal of Hit and Expertise from all gear these changes will not be retroactive.

Random Player:How will these changes affect mastery?
We may make changes to specific masteries as part of the Warlords of Draenor review, but don’t have any sweeping changes planned.

From Twitter: Nathyiel: What about off-hand/shield?
They are considered "weapons" for the purposes of these system changes.

Are more tertiary stats being considered than the 5 we've been shown thus far?
This list we have at this time is not set in stone, but currently includes: Leech (heal on damage dealt), Inspiration (heal on damage received), Cleave (extra damage to additional targets), Sturdiness (reduced durability damage), Speed (movement speed), and Avoidance (reduced area effect damage taken).

Getting gear is fun. We like getting gear and we like the feeling that on any given boss, there should always be something that you would want. What we’re doing with items in Warlords is just an evolution of the Thunderforged version to make it a little more interesting. You’ll probably see more bonus pieces than you did Thunderforged in the past, but getting an item that has all 3 bonuses will be very, very (very!) rare. Remember, you’ll be just fine with the baseline pieces of gear, and most of your character will be made up of this gear. But each and every time you kill a boss, there’s that chance of getting something slightly better.

One of our other goals is to reduce the amount of work an item takes. Currently, the amount of work (math! MATH!) you have to do in order to even put on a piece of gear takes away from the enjoyment of the actual item dropping. We want you to spend more time killing creatures and getting better gear and less time figuring out how that piece that dropped effects specific stat levels (hit, expertise, haste, etc.), what gems you need cut, and what enchant to put on it. We’re not removing all of those choices, but we’re drastically tuning down the amount of required work. Get your boots, put them on, next boss!

Another reason for these item changes are to bring hybrids closer to fulfilling their off-spec role. Part of the fantasy of being a warrior is that you can take the punishment when you need to (tank), or dish it out if you want to (DPS). However, collecting two entirely different sets of gear, plus gemming, enchanting, reforging… it’s all different and it’s just a lot more work. In most cases, it was too big of a barrier for some players to even consider. With these changes, we’re bringing your off spec closer to the performance of your main spec. You won’t have to collect the same Chest set piece twice, or say, get a different set of boots. However, if you want to be optimal, there will still be items to collect.

Question, will the gear's secondary Stats from raids be static when they drop or are they rng and be random generated stats?
The vast majority of raid gear will continue to to have pre-determined secondary stats, just as it does today. We may still put in a few alternative pieces with randomly-generated stats, much like we did in Throne of Thunder, but those will be rare exceptions.

This extends to other types of content as well. Every once in a while, when there's a compelling reason to, we might let gear randomly roll secondaries. Timeless Isle is a good example of a situation in which that style of gearing makes sense. Again, that's the exception, not the rule. Under normal circumstances, secondary stats will still be pre-determined, not random.

Avoid the (zerg) rush at the mall and go digital with your holiday shopping. For a limited time, you can save up to 75% on digital copies of select Blizzard games:

SAVE up to 75% on World of Warcraft

• World of Warcraft — Now $4.99 (Reg. $19.99)
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria — Now $9.99 (Reg. $39.99)
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Digital Deluxe Edition — Now $29.99 (Reg. $59.99)

SAVE up to 50% on StarCraft II

• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty — Now $19.99 (Reg. $39.99)
• StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm — Now $19.99 (Reg. $39.99)
• StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Digital Deluxe Edition — Now $39.99 (Reg. $59.99)

All of these digital offers are now fully giftable in the newly revamped Battle.net Shop, making it easier than ever to hook up your friends, family, and zerglings with a new Blizzard game this holiday season.

Sale ends December 2 at 11:59 p.m. PST.


P.S.—Our treasure goblin scouts have also sighted a few special deals on Diablo III for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC/Mac, but only at select retail locations. Check with your local retailer for details and availability.