World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies RSS Feed

by Published on 2015-08-25 07:12 AM

Update (3:30 PM EDT): Archimonde is now spawning correctly in LFR.

Reddit Q&A on September 1st, Quin's 2.3 Shenlong Monk

No Free Packs on TGT Launch, Fel Reaver Bug Fixed, This Weekend in Hearthstone ESports

NA Road to Blizzcon August Open, GeForce GTX 950 Giveaway, Into the Nexus #63

Armory Stats - Races and Genders
Today we are taking a look at character races and genders. The last time we looked at this data was in 2011 and things have changed since then. New character models were added and every race now has a higher percentage of female characters. Tauren, Dwarves, and Undead had the smallest increase, while Draenei, Night Elves, and Blood Elves had the largest. Night Elves and Blood Elves went from being a majority of male to a majority of female characters.

The data today is based on 6.1 million characters that have been active since June 1, 2015. The first chart shows character genders for each race, only within that race. This means that each race will add up to 100%. You can click on the titles in the legend to turn on and off different data series.

The second chart shows character genders for each race, but weighted to their overall proportion. This allows you to see that even with the new character models, Female Dwarves are still the least popular.

The final chart shows the races without gender specific information.

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Race Total Male Male (2011) Female Female (2011)
Human 19.35% 56.12% 66.48% 43.88% 33.52%
Orc 8.44% 81.35% 89.34% 18.65% 10.66%
Dwarf 4.34% 85.82% 86.72% 14.18% 13.28%
Night Elf 11.50% 42.94% 56.20% 57.06% 43.80%
Undead 6.57% 76.44% 77.40% 23.56% 22.60%
Tauren 6.69% 85.58% 85.82% 14.42% 14.18%
Gnome 3.54% 56.10% 69.43% 43.90% 30.57%
Troll 5.96% 67.35% 74.24% 32.65% 25.76%
Goblin 2.54% 63.55% 72.44% 36.45% 27.56%
Blood Elf 14.06% 42.35% 55.05% 57.65% 44.95%
Draenei 7.09% 34.55% 47.73% 65.45% 52.27%
Worgen 4.80% 72.33% 80.00% 27.67% 20.00%
Pandaren (A) 2.65% 51.35% 0.00% 48.65% 0.00%
Pandaren (H) 2.48% 50.30% 0.00% 49.70% 0.00%

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Items
Crystallized Fel loot from Archimonde resets together with weekly LFR Reset OR with norm/heroic/mythic reset ?
This resets with weekly quest tracking, as do all other Legendary quest steps. (WarcraftDevs)

UI
Any hope to fix Tab-Targetting? Been broken since 6.x: https://gfycat.com/NeighboringUnimportantEchidna
Appreciate the report. We're currently investigating this. (WarcraftDevs)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
How much of an impact(if any) do you think Activision has had on the creative process of Blizzard?
None. (OccupyGStreet)

Love hard dungeons, but hard as in coordinating CC, using interrupts, stuns, ect. One shot death mechanics = not fun.
Agree, but they often go together. If it's is just "lots of damage" the healer gets blamed. (OccupyGStreet)

Do you think convenience is a double edged sword? at what point does clicking menus/teleports jeopardize the RPG in MMORPG?
Fast travel is a risk in a lot of games. The Witcher 3, a great game, risks losing its sense of world from click to teleport. (OccupyGStreet)
I get why players like it. I like it. But I don't think we always recognize what we are giving up for convenience. (OccupyGStreet)

I'm curious... if he'll answer... what community has worse personal attacks on its designers? WoW or LoL?
WoW in my experience. I think it has something to do with long term investment in a character which feels like higher stakes. (OccupyGStreet)
Also I guess with LoL you know exactly what you're getting into, but people play WoW for many reasons. (OccupyGStreet)
However it's also possible I'm just more experienced communicating now and may fewer flubs. (OccupyGStreet)
Riot and Blizzard also have very different communication styles. Blizzard practices polish so players expect that. (OccupyGStreet)



Diablo III - Patch 2.3 Recap
Diablofans has all of the details about the new features coming in Patch 2.3!





HeroStorm #4 - Nazeebro
Carbot released another episode of HeroStorm this weekend!

by Published on 2015-08-24 09:52 AM

ZiggyD Dev Interview, 3D Kanai's Cube Fanart

TGT Launches Tomorrow, Top Decks of the Week, 10 Best Cards in TGT

Shop Update Reminder, Battlefield of Eternity Update, Carbot Ep. 4 Nazeebro and More

Armory Stats - Patch 6.2 Class Representation
It is time to look at Class Representation once again, before everyone becomes a Demon Hunter in Legion! This time we are only including characters that have been active since June 1, 2015. We last looked at this data during Patch 6.1, but did not only include recently active characters then, so the data isn't directly comparable.

This sample includes 5.9 million characters for all item levels, 3.4 million for 655+, 2.4 million for 665+, 1.7 million for 675+, 677k for 690+, 205k for 700+, and 51k for 710+. Keep in mind that the higher the item level, the smaller the sample size, which means a less than perfect reflection of the actual class balance at that item level range.

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Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW and game design. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Player Feedback
What is your process at Riot for reviewing feedback? Sometimes I feel we can't get rito attention without a huge post on reddit with a bunch of stupid memes, but every once in a while, someone will post a real discussion to no avail. It is frustrating that we feel like our feedback never matters.
There isn't a formalized process because as you can imagine the discussion itself is nuanced. We need to evaluate sentiment in all regions, evaluate potential changes against work already in flight, and try and understand if we are hearing from a vocal minority or someone being the spokesperson for a whole bunch of players.

We don't think the long red post on Reddit really scales well. We are trying to figure out some other options to get our feedback to your feedback out there. A suggestion we hear a lot is some kind of regular state of the game blog.

I have been talking to players on social media for nearly two decades now and I have experienced this sentiment a lot: that you guys don't feel heard. It's a challenging problem to solve in the absence of an announcement from us that says "we are making the change you suggested in the next patch." To be clear, sometimes that is going to happen. But there are many reasons that may not happen. If you're asking for a new feature and we are going to announce that feature in a big way in a few weeks, we aren't going to answer on social media and you may feel ignored. As I said we are exploring options for how to make sure you guys understand better what it is we value. We have gotten that message loud and clear.

Game Design
now i know you don't work for blizzard anymore but can you explain why they seem so threatened by new mmos or expansions for current mmos releasing?
I'm not sure if you are refering to a specific incident or something, but when I was there, there wasn't an excessive focus on what competitors did. It's actually pretty challenging in the game industry, and especially in the MMO space, to tactically respond to competitors. If they announce a new feature, you're probably 4 months away from being able to ship a competiting feature. If they want to launch on a certain day, you have very limited ability to pivot, because you probably locked into your own launch day 6 months ago.

So you are saying that Blizzard and Valve are reckless for implementing features that LoL doesn't have like voice chat?
I'm not qualified to talk about how Valve makes decisions. I would just be guessing. Blizzard is generally a very deliberate, almost cautious decision-maker, or at least they were two years ago. I would point to their voice chat as a rare misstep though (they would be the first to acknowledge that it isn't very good compared to third party alternatives, and isn't frequently used) so maybe that's not the strongest example to make your point.

This also doesn't mean adding voice is always a reckless idea. I just mean you need to be really careful about how you roll out some features that risk having more problems than benefits.

Misc
Do you feel like you're currently making the exact same design mistakes that you previously made at Blizzard? Specifically regarding caring more about new players than old?
Almost everything we do on League is for existing players. In fact, our new player experience is in pretty desperate need of being updated. We will get to it someday.

On WoW we did focus more on new players. They are just different companies with different priorities. I try to align my priorities to the company I'm at. But I will point out that I annoyed some players by focusing on more challenging dungeons on WoW.

How does it feel to have completely screwed up WoW, only to get hired at Riot and do the same thing again?
In both cases, I'm just one person on a large team. I have no problem if you want to hold me accountable for design decisions you don't like on either game, but it's pretty unfair to hundreds of people at Blizzard and Riot to imagine that any one person could steer the direction of either game so dramatically.



Wildstar - Cosmic Tiers
The Wildstar team announced the system that will unlock game features and cosmetic rewards once the game goes free to play. Players will unlock tiers by purchasing things in the in-game store. The more they spend, the more tiers will be unlocked. Players that don't want to spend any money on the game can still unlock things by using C.R.E.D.D. (Wildstar equivalent of the WoW Token).





WowCraft #24 - ShipRekt
WoWCraft takes a look at Shipyards in this episode.

by Published on 2015-08-22 07:03 AM

Reddit Q&A on September 1st, Quin's 2.3 Shenlong Monk

No Free Packs on TGT Launch, Fel Reaver Bug Fixed, This Weekend in Hearthstone ESports

NA Road to Blizzcon August Open, GeForce GTX 950 Giveaway, Into the Nexus #63

Patch 6.2.2 - Grove Warden Mount
Patch 6.2.2 adds the new Grove Warden mount. The mount is being added with this patch, but may not appear on the shop for some time.



Patch 6.2 Hotfixes - August 21
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel
  • Gorefiend
    • [Requires a realm restart] Corrected an issue that could cause players to die outright instead of having their souls devoured when suffering multiple simultaneous fatal damage events.
  • Fel Lord Zakuun
    • Cloven Soul now provides a 4-second immunity to Wake of Destruction right after it's been applied to the player.

Apexis Crystal Bonus Event August 21 – 24
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
During the Sign of Apexis bonus event, you'll gain bonus Apexis Crystals from eligible creatures. Furthermore, completing the this-bonus event-only quest "The Time to Strike" awards a sizable amount of Oil to fuel your Naval Missions, in addition to a big pile of Apexis Crystals.

The point of picking up lots and lots of extra Apexis Crystals is, of course, to spend them! Here are some of the possibilities.

For most players, spending Apexis Crystals on gear upgrades is a great way to improve your overall item level. There's something for every slot at item level 650, so if you've still got a low-level item in one or two slots, you're covered. Visit Ravenspeaker Thelnaas in Tanaan Jungle to buy armor for 5,000 Crystals apiece, a weapon for 10,000 Crystals, and Empowered Apexis Fragments for 20,000 Crystals. Empowered Apexis Fragment are Battle.net Account-bound, and upgrade your Baleful gear from ilvl 650 to ilvl 695.

Some nice new collectibles came along with Tanaan Jungle. You'll want to consider:


The bonus weekend is underway, and runs through the end of the day on Monday, August 24.

What are you aiming to buy with your extra crystals?

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Grove Warden Mount
I really hope you're conscious that seeing this mount in the store freaks everyone out concerning legion rep rewards
I'd heard similar feedback before but it was pronounced this time, thanks! I get you. (Muffinus)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Story
As a games designer, do you ever think you would let us, the heroes loose in an expansion!? we cant always win surely
As a narrative device I think this is fun but you have to sell "won every battle but lost the war." (OccupyGStreet)
Because it likely won't be fun for the player to just lose every fight. They still need to win a lot for a sense of satisfaction. (OccupyGStreet)
Consider Empire Strikes Back: the retreat from Hoth (spoiler) was a victory but not a victory like driving the Empire back. (OccupyGStreet)



Poll - Corrupted Dreadwing Mount
Roughly 9% of players active since June 1st already have the mount.



Final Boss #92 - Agility DPS
Last week Final Boss talked to some Agility DPS players to see what has changed recently.

by Published on 2015-08-21 02:46 AM

Blizzcon 2015 Virtual Tickets and Goodie Bag Available, Cold Sesmic Slam Barbarian

The Grand Tournament Arrives August 24th, BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket Now Available

Developer Q&A on Reddit

Dev Interviews
MMOGames had the chance to talk Tom Chilton and Ion Hazzikostas recently.

  • Warlords of Draenor had a good story, but it was disconnected from the game world. Going forward the team will try to integrate the storytelling into the game, especially in max level content.
  • The Hunter's Class hall will be in the peaks of High Mountain.
  • Blizzcon is likely to have "the first playable tour of the world".
  • Internal alpha is going on now.
  • Legion could launch before or after the Warcraft movie and the expansion release date isn't tied to it.


Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20426
Notes are in progress, so keep checking back!




New Icons



New Reserved Names
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
  • holinka
  • hoilnka



Achievement Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Shipyard
Garrisons
  • Naval Mechanics Obtain all of the naval equpment blueprints listed below. 5 points.Account Wide.



Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Item Set Bonuses

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)
  • Thrash Strikes all enemy targets within 8 yards, dealing [ 1 + 46.64% 51.3% of AP ] bleed damage and an additional [ 5 + 33.22% 36.5% of AP ] damage over 15 sec. Requires Cat Form. Feral, Guardian. 50 Energy. 8 yd range. Instant.

Feral
  • Rake Rake the target for [ 1 + 51.7% 62% of AP ] Bleed damage and an additional [ 5 + 51.7% 62% of AP ] Bleed damage over 15 sec. Awards 1 combo points. If used while stealthed, the target will be stunned for 4 sec. Requires Cat Form. Druid - Feral Spec. 35 Energy. Melee range. Instant.
  • Rip (Balance, Guardian, Restoration) Damage increases per combo point: 1 point : [ 132% [ 158.4% of AP ] damage 2 points: [ 264% [ 316.8% of AP ] damage 3 points: [ 396% [ 475.2% of AP ] damage 4 points: [ 528% [ 633.6% of AP ] damage 5 points: [ 660% of AP ] damage [ 792% of AP ] damage
  • Rip (Feral) Damage increases per combo point: 1 point : [ 165.1% [ 198.1% of AP ] damage 2 points: [ 330.1% [ 396.1% of AP ] damage 3 points: [ 495.2% [ 594.2% of AP ] damage 4 points: [ 660.2% [ 792.3% of AP ] damage 5 points: [ 825.3% of AP ] damage [ 990.3% of AP ] damage

Priest (Forums, Talent Calculator)
  • Devouring Plague Consumes 3 Shadow Orbs to deal [ 1 + 264% 290.4% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and then an additional 100% of the initial damage over 6 sec. Heals the caster for 100% of damage done. Instant.

Shadow
  • Devouring Plague Consumes 3 Shadow Orbs to deal [ 1 + 264% 290.4% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and then an additional 100% of the initial damage over 6 sec. Heals the caster for 100% of damage done. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. All Shadow Orbs. 40 yd range. Instant.
  • Mind Blast Blasts the target for [ 1 + 200% 220% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and generates 1 Shadow Orbs. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.25% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast. 9 sec cooldown.
  • Mind Flay Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing [ 3 + 33% 39.6% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.25% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 3 sec cast (Channeled).
  • Mind Spike Blasts the target for [ 1 + 90.8% of Spell Power 1;] Shadowfrost damage, but extinguishes your damage over time effects on the target. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.125% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.

Warrior (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Protection
  • Devastate Deals (250% Deals (265% of weapon damage) Physical damage, and has a 30% chance to reset the cooldown on Shield Slam and cause it to generate 5 more Rage. Requires Shields. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant.
  • Revenge Instantly attack an enemy and two additional enemies, dealing [ 1 + 352.8% 374% of AP ] damage to the primary target and 50% damage to the secondary targets, and generating 20 Rage. Your successful dodges and parries reset the cooldown on Revenge. Requires Melee Weapon. Requires Defensive Stance. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant. 9 sec cooldown.
  • Shield Slam Slam the target with your shield, causing [ AP * (0.366 0.561 + (gte(Level, 80)) * (0.426) + (gte(Level, 85)) * (2.46)) ] damage and generating 20 Rage. Critical strikes with Shield Slam cause your next Heroic Strike to cost no Rage and be a critical strike. Requires Shields. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.

Racials
Blood Elf
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and increase your Rage by 15. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 20 Runic Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 15 of your Focus. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 3% of your Mana. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 15 Energy. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 1 Holy Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 3 sec and restore 1 Chi. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.

Goblin
  • Rocket Barrage Launches your belt rockets at an enemy, dealing [ 1 + 42.9% of Spell Power + 50% of AP + 2 * Level ] fire damage. Goblin Racial. 30 yd range. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.
  • Rocket Jump Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. Other effects which slow the rate of falling cannot be used within 10 sec after using this ability. Goblin Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.

Orc
  • Hardiness Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 15%. Orc Racial. 20%. Orc Racial.

Tauren
  • War Stomp Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 3 sec. Limited to 5 targets. Tauren Racial. 0.5 sec cast. 2 min cooldown. 1.5 min cooldown.

Troll
  • Da Voodoo Shuffle Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15% 20%. Trolls be flippin' out mon! Troll Racial.



Strings Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
  • SPELL_FAILED_NOT_WHILE_MERCENARY - You can't do that while you are a mercenary



Patch 6.2.2 Development Timeline
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
---WARNING: HERE THERE BE PERSONAL OPINION DRAGONS---
I'll start with this: we're a software development company. More precisely, we're a video game developer. Anything and everything can change in the software development world, for reasons that are often impossible to predict ahead of time. As a result, we're hesitant to 100% commit to anything. We've learned that, no matter how confident we are at any given point, there's always a very real chance that there's something we haven't thought of that makes what we want to do impossible.

The whole "weeks, not months" thing makes an easy example. At the time that was said, we firmly believed that it would only take us a few weeks to polish off Tanaan and fix a few areas we knew were likely to have some bugs, and then we'd roll out the flying patch. It's easy enough, right? We just change a few 0's to 1's and it's all done.

Then we started finding a lot more bugs and glitches than we expected. We found tiny pockets of the world that weren't properly obeying the flight rules, and would drop players to their deaths if you happened to fly through them. We found issues with certain mounts and class abilities that were caused by hotfixes to resolve exploits, which resulted in those mounts and abilities not working. We found situations in which if you fly into your Garrison at juuuuust the right angle, you get disconnected and can't get back onto your character for a good half hour or so.

Finding those bugs, implementing fixes, testing those fixes, finding more bugs (sometimes caused by those fixes)... it all added up to a lot more work being needed to actually enable flying than we had originally expected. And as a result, what we originally thought would only take a few weeks ended up taking a couple months.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not making excuses here. And I don't at all blame the players who are frustrated and upset that we didn't hit the timeline we originally stated. Honestly, we probably should never have said that it would only take a few weeks. That was clearly a mistake, and I apologize for it.

But that should hopefully give you an idea of why -- ESPECIALLY given the missteps we've made in the recent past -- we simply can't 100% guarantee that nothing will go wrong between now and September 1st. Truth is, we're more confident in this release date than we usually are this far in advance of a patch. That's why we felt that we could give a date at all.

There's just always -- ALWAYS -- a chance that something can go wrong at the last minute. We could, say, be finishing the fixes for the last couple of dismount bugs on the Saturday before release, and when we compile the final build, all of a sudden activating your flying mount teleports you to the graveyard in Westfall and deletes the contents of your inventory. Is that likely? Not really, no. But it's possible, so we need to make sure you're aware that things can change, just in case something like that does happen.

There are alternatives, of course. We could just not give a date until we know for 100% certain, which is our usual strategy. Like I said, we feel a little more confident in this date than usual, so we thought it was okay to share it.

The other option would have been to try to have the patch ready to go by the 1st, but not actually plan to release it until a week or so later. That would let us announce a date we'd be extremely confident in, but we'd essentially be delaying the release of flight even further, and we definitely don't want to do that. So, we gave a date that we feel pretty good about, with the reminder that we won't be able to release if something catastrophic happens.

This ended up being a giant wall of text, but I'll leave it with this: I know it's super frustrating when it feels like we're not being as open as we possibly could be. And I know it's equally frustrating when it seems like we're completely unwilling to commit to anything concrete. I spent 8 years as a player before I became an employee. I know exactly how it feels.

I just also know that it's better to not expect much and be pleasantly surprised, than to feel like a promise was broken. At least that's my opinion.

Regarding the transition from 6.2.1 to 6.2.2: we actually had two potential plans that were dependent on how things fell in terms of development timelines, which is why some of what we've said seems contradictory.

The core of it comes from our PTR testing process, and the fact that we are blessed with some extremely savvy fansite operators who are capable of combing through patch data, finding nuggets of information, and drawing educated conclusions based on that information. If we'd put, say, the Illidan-themed Murloc pet into the PTR data before Legion was announced, that would have been a pretty big tip-off. At the same time, we needed to get PTR testing for flight underway as quickly as possible, so that we could make sure we found all those silly obnoxious bugs I mentioned in my earlier post.

So, our strategy was to create two separate versions of the patch. 6.2.1 would have all of the relevant patch features (including flight), and 6.2.2 would have everything in 6.2.1 plus the upcoming stuff that the art team has been working on. In the unlikely event that everything went EXTREMELY smoothly with flight, we'd have the option to go ahead and push out 6.2.1, and 6.2.2 would come separately. If not, we'd just carry on with 6.2.2, which was basically the same patch plus some stuff that other parts of the WoW development team had been working on. As you're all aware, things did not go extremely smoothly with flight, so the latter option was what ended up happening.

I'll make a silly analogy. Think of the patch like a bus. This bus is waiting for a high-profile dignitary (flying) to finish up some negotiations, and as soon as she's done with those, she needs to leave to get to another conference. That bus will not leave without the dignitary, and it will leave immediately once she's on board.

That said, the bus is also capable of taking on other passengers (who for the sake of the analogy we'll assume are headed to the same place). The longer the dignitary's negotiations take, the more opportunity there is for other passengers to hitch a ride. The other passengers, in this case, are things like Mercenary Mode or the new pets and mounts. If the dignitary had finished unexpectedly quickly, there would be another bus coming by later that could take those passengers, but since she hasn't, the bus company decides to just take one trip instead of two. Make sense?

One other note: 6.2.1 was briefly labelled as a "Release Candidate" on the PTR prior to the switch to 6.2.2. "Release Candidate" is an internal term we use to basically mean "we think we might have fixed everything." As it turns out, we hadn't. In this case, if we hadn't had the transition to 6.2.2, 6.2.1 would have just stayed as "Release Candidate" until September 1st. But since we had this weird extra "hide your kids" strategy going on with the Legion stuff, the title was switched back as part of the changeover. I completely understand why that looks like "Blizzard delayed the patch to add some pets" to those who aren't familiar with our internal workings.

Regarding "you should have designed the world with flight from the beginning!" We actually did, we just had to do a lot more development after that, and some of that stuff broke flying in ways we didn't fully anticipate.

For example, when Warlords released, our servers were unable to handle the massive numbers of players trying to log into the game. Our server technicians pulled some absolutely crazy magic to dramatically increase the number of players who could be on a given server at one time. That solved the load issues, but ended up creating a large number of the dismount/de-instancing issues that players who have been testing flight on the PTR will have noticed.

Another example: a few weeks later, some exploits surfaced that were allowing certain players to fly in clearly unintended ways (such as Druids being able to leave Ashran with the Flight Form book still active). We hotfixed those exploits as they came up, but some of those hotfixes broke flying in Draenor in ways that continued even with flying properly enabled.

Obviously, we knew that both of those things were likely to cause some issues, we just severely underestimated how widespread (and difficult to resolve) those issues would be. And we didn't want to delay rolling out those fixes, because they had major implications for the live game (especially the server stuff), where no one was supposed to be able to fly at the time anyway.

Given the choice between letting thousands more people actually play the game and potentially breaking something that (at the time) we weren't sure was even going to matter later, it was an easy decision. But even easy decisions have consequences, and now we're having to deal with those in 6.2.1/6.2.2.

So, again: if you suspected that the new content would cause problems with flight, then why did you choose to heap MORE features on top of flying in his patch, knowing that would cause delays and thus upset people?
Because we knew it wouldn't, and it hasn't. None of the other content in 6.2.1/6.2.2 has delayed flying in any way.

There are multiple teams of people here working on multiple things. The people working on fixing up Draenor for flight are not the same people working on Mercenary Mode, or the class tuning changes, or the pets and mounts, etc.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Any chance region transfer (EU to US) will be available in the future? Or should I just trash my 7 yo account for a new one?
No plans or info to share on the potential for region transfers. (CM_Zarhym)

> spends 2 hours late at work writing a post apologizing for comm. failures
> gets accused of not caring about players
> business as usual
I obviously recognize that those people are in the vast minority, and appreciate all the kind words (CM_Lore)

10 Types of WoW Players You Will Encounter
Margaret is back with another video about different types of WoW players.

by Published on 2015-08-19 08:43 PM

Update (11:40 PM EDT): Lore talked about why flying is taking so long.

BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket Now Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard
The murlocs are busy working on prepping panels and assembling their contest entries, which can only mean one thing—BlizzCon 2015 is just a few months away! This year’s show is sold out, but those unable to join the festivities in person can experience the excitement from home with the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, available to order now in the Battle.net Shop!

BUY VIRTUAL TICKET

With the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, live online HD coverage will be at your fingertips on both days of the show, taking place Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7. You’ll enjoy two channels of content, featuring developer panels on the main and panel stages, exclusive in-depth interviews, the epic closing ceremony, and the community contests on Friday evening —this year hosted by author, actor, and all-around good geek, Wil Wheaton (@wilw).

You’ll also have access to on-demand replays for up to two weeks after the show so you can catch up on anything you might have missed.

Bonus Loot 2.0
As always, the Virtual Ticket also unlocks a treasure trove of in-game goodies for your favorite Blizzard games, including World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, and Heroes of the Storm—more details to come at a later date.

In addition, for the first time ever, Virtual Ticket buyers will also have the option to equip the Goody Bag that we give out to BlizzCon-goers in person. The Goody Bag is available to pre-purchase now through the Blizzard Gear Store for an additional $34.99 USD (plus tax, shipping, and applicable fees; limit 1 per Virtual Ticket), but supplies are limited, so be sure to lock in your pre-purchase before they’re all claimed. Visit our Goody Bag blog to check out the contents and learn more about how to order.


The Virtual Ticket also grants you access to a limited-time online BlizzCon merchandise sale featuring a selection of commemorative items that will be available for purchase at the show.** This special sale is scheduled to run from October 16 through November 8, and we’ll give you the low-down on all the loot that’s coming at a later date.

Free WCS and Warcraft eSports Tournament Streams

Even if you don’t purchase a Virtual Ticket, you’ll still be able to catch plenty of BlizzCon action online for free. Coverage of the BlizzCon opening ceremony and this year’s BlizzCon eSports tournaments—including the StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals, Hearthstone World Championship, World of Warcraft Arena World Championship, and the first-ever Heroes of the Storm World Championship—will be streamed for free in HD at www.blizzcon.com.

To order a Virtual Ticket, head to the Virtual Ticket Battle.net Shop page. For more information, read the FAQ below.

* Virtual Ticket coverage will be available in English only.

**While supplies last. All orders will be shipped from the United States. lnternational shipping rates may apply.

BlizzCon® 2015 Virtual Ticket FAQ

What is the BlizzCon® 2015 Virtual Ticket?
The BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket offers comprehensive live HD coverage of Blizzard Entertainment’s two-day gaming celebration, taking place November 6 and 7, via a multichannel Internet stream.

When you purchase the Virtual Ticket, you’ll be able to switch freely between multiple high-definition (up to 720p) channels dedicated to different areas of BlizzCon, allowing viewers expanded access to the content they're most interested in. The Virtual Ticket grants you complete access to the Main and Panel Stage channels, featuring the following BlizzCon content:

  • Developer Panels: Get the latest news and firsthand developer insight into the creation of your favorite Blizzard games.
  • Exclusive Interviews: Dig deeper into the Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch universes in exclusive interviews with Blizzard executives and developers.
  • Costume and Talent Contests: Get a great view of the creativity on display in the legendary BlizzCon Costume Contest and epic Talent Contest.
  • Closing Ceremony: Be there for the closing festivities on Saturday night, celebrating two full days of Blizzard gaming and eSports action.

Limited high-definition coverage of the opening ceremony and BlizzCon eSports tournaments will be available online for free, featuring the Global Finals of the 2015 StarCraft® II World Championship Series, World of Warcraft® Arena World Championship, Hearthstone® World Championship, and Heroes of the Storm® World Championship. Keep an eye on www.blizzcon.com for more information.

If I order the BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket, will I receive the commemorative BlizzCon 2015 in-game goodies?
Yes, Virtual Ticket holders will also receive commemorative BlizzCon 2015 in-game goodies for a variety of Blizzard games (details to be announced at a later date). The goodies will be linked to the Battle.net account used to purchase or redeem the Virtual Ticket, and will be available in-game after the show begins. Stay tuned for more information.

*NEW* Once I purchase my Virtual Ticket, how do I pre-purchase an optional BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag?
Once you’ve completed your Virtual Ticket purchase or redeemed your Virtual Ticket code, log in to the Blizzard Gear Store (http://gear.blizzard.com) using the same Battle.net account. Look for the Goody Bag callout on the front page, or click BlizzCon 2015 in the top navigation bar, where you’ll be able to pre-purchase (limit 1 per Virtual Ticket and Battle.net account).

Please note that BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag *supplies are limited*, and buying a Virtual Ticket does *not* guarantee that you’ll be able to also buy a Goody Bag. Goody Bag orders will be shipped closer to the start of BlizzCon. For more information, see the FAQ.

Will replays of Virtual Ticket content be available after BlizzCon is over?
Yes! Anyone with a Virtual Ticket will be able to access on-demand replays of the Main and Panel Stage streams for up to two weeks after the end of the event. Replays of the eSports events will also be available for free.

Will you be hosting a BlizzCon online merchandise sale this year for Virtual Ticket buyers? How will I access the sale?
Yes—we’re setting aside a stash of BlizzCon merchandise for BlizzCon attendees and Virtual Ticket holders to be sold in an online merchandise sale scheduled to take place October 16 through November 8, 2015.

After purchasing or redeeming a code for a Virtual Ticket, your Battle.net account will automatically be flagged to get access to the merchandise sale when it begins. Visit www.blizzcon.com closer to the sale for more information.

We’re also planning a post-BlizzCon sale that’s open to the public after show concludes—we’ll have more details to share at a later date. Please note that items purchased in all of these sales will be shipped from the U.S., so international shipping rates and other fees may apply.

How do I order the Virtual Ticket?
You can order the Virtual Ticket directly through the Battle.net Shop. Be sure to make your purchase on the Battle.net account you wish to use to watch the show, receive the in-game goodies, and access the merchandise sale. Also make sure you have a valid, updated payment method associated with your Battle.net account. If you do not yet have a Battle.net account, you can create one for free on the Battle.net website.

In what languages will the Virtual Ticket Internet stream be available?
The BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket Internet stream and DIRECTV broadcast will be available in English only.

Free eSports streams will be available in multiple languages through a variety of external channels—visit www.blizzcon.com closer to the show to find out if localized streaming eSports coverage is available in your preferred language.

In which regions is the Virtual Ticket available for purchase?
The BlizzCon Virtual Ticket is available in the Americas, Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia (pricing and availability varies by region). Keep in mind the Virtual Ticket stream will be available only in English.

What are the system requirements and minimum bandwidth requirements to view the live stream?
We’ll have more information on the system requirements and minimum bandwidth requirements to view the stream closer to the event.

Do I need to purchase a Virtual Ticket if I’ve already purchased a ticket to attend BlizzCon in person?
Live BlizzCon attendees also get a Virtual Ticket with their BlizzCon ticket purchase. BlizzCon ticket purchasers should have already received a code (one per ticket purchased) which can be used to unlock the Virtual Ticket, in-game goodies, and merchandise sale access on a single Battle.net account. These codes were emailed directly to the BlizzCon ticket purchaser, so check with the person who bought your ticket if you haven’t yet received your code.

I plan to purchase the BlizzCon 2015 Pay Per View event through DIRECTV. Do I need to purchase the Virtual Ticket separately to also watch online?
For those who choose the option to purchase the BlizzCon 2015 DIRECTV Pay Per View (coming soon), the Virtual Ticket Internet stream will be included with your order. After ordering through DIRECTV, you will receive an email containing a code that will grant one Battle.net account access to the Virtual Ticket Internet stream, the BlizzCon 2015 in-game goodies, and online merchandise sale. You will be able to redeem your code here—just make sure to redeem the code using the Battle.net account on which you wish to receive the in-game goodies.

Note that the DIRECTV Pay Per View broadcast is not included with purchases of the Virtual Ticket made through the Battle.net Shop. More information on the DIRECTV BlizzCon 2015 Pay Per View event, including how to order through DIRECTV, will be available at a later date.

Get a BlizzCon Goody Bag with the Virtual Ticket
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Introducing a new way to bring a piece of the BlizzCon experience home! For the first time ever, BlizzCon Virtual Ticket buyers can also pre-purchase a BlizzCon Goody Bag (while supplies last)—and this year, the bag itself is one of the goodies!


A limited number of Goody Bags are now available to pre-purchase in the Blizzard Gear Store for $34.99 USD (plus tax, shipping, and applicable fees). There’s a limit of one bag per Virtual Ticket and supplies are limited, so grab this loot before it’s gone for good.

Check out what’s inside, and read below for more information on how to pre-purchase.


How to Pre-Purchase a Goody Bag

Once you’ve completed your BlizzCon Virtual Ticket purchase, head over to the Blizzard Gear Store and log in with the Battle.net Account you used to buy your Virtual Ticket.

Once you’re logged in to the Gear Store, look for the Goody Bag callout on the front page or head straight to the Goody Bag product page to begin the pre-purchase process.

Goody Bags are expected to ship out prior to the show in early November. All orders will be shipped from the United States, so international shipping rates and additional fees may apply. Click here for more information, including regional shipping restricitions.

If you’re attending BlizzCon in person, you’ll get aGoody Bag when you arrive at the show as part of your BlizzCon ticket purchase. If you want to pre-purchase an extra one, you can redeem the Virtual Ticket code that was emailed to ticket buyers and follow the process above.

Goody Bag Pre-Purchase FAQ

Q: Who can pre-purchase a BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag?
A: BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket and physical ticket holders are eligible to pre-purchase one Goody Bag per Battle.net Account at gear.blizzard.com while supplies last.

Q: I am a physical ticket holder. Do I need to purchase a Goody Bag?
A: BlizzCon 2015 physical ticket holders will receive their Goody Bag at badge pickup, beginning November 5, 2015. Physical ticket holders may also purchase one additional Goody Bag while supplies last.

Q: I can’t find the link to purchase the BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag. Help!
A: Purchase the BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag here. Remember, you must:

  • Purchase a BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket or a physical BlizzCon 2015 ticket (physical ticket holders must redeem the BlizzCon Digital Bonuses Code the ticket buyer received via email. If you didn’t buy a ticket yourself, you’ll need to get your code from the person who bought your ticket).
  • Log in to your Battle.net Account.

Q: How much do Goody Bags cost?
A: BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bags are available for $34.99 USD (shipping and taxes will be added at the time of purchase). International orders may be subject to regional duties and fees.

Note: Physical items cannot be shipped to certain countries, e.g., China, Brazil, Argentina, or Russia. Review the Gear Store's shipping policies for more info.

Q. When will the BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bags Ship?
A. BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bags will begin shipping on or before November 6, 2015.

Q: What if I cancel my Virtual Ticket after ordering the BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag?
A: Players without a valid Virtual Ticket or physical ticket purchase at the time of shipping will not be eligible to receive a BlizzCon 2015 Goody Bag. The order will be cancelled.

Patch 6.2.2 Patch Notes - Releases September 1
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Raids and Dungeons
Dungeon Finder Changes
  • Completing a Random Warlords of Draenor Heroic dungeon after the first one now awards 50 Garrison Resources (up from 0).

Racial Abilities
Blood Elf
  • Arcane Torrent now Silences all enemies in an 8 yard radius for 3 seconds (up from 2 seconds), and cooldown has been reduced to 1.5 minutes (down from 2 minutes).
Goblin
  • Rocket Barrage now has a 1.5-minute cooldown (down from 2 minutes).
  • Rocket Jump now has a 1.5-minute cooldown (down from 2 minutes).
Orc
  • Hardiness now reduces the duration of Stun effects by an additional 20% (up from 15%).
Troll
  • Voodoo Shuffle now reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 20% (up from 15%). Trolls still be flippin' out mon!
Tauren
  • War Stomp now stuns enemies for 3 seconds (up from 2 seconds), and cooldown has been reduced to 1.5 minutes (down from 2 minutes).

Class

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • General
    • Thrash in Cat Form now deals 10% more damage.
  • Feral
    • Rake now deals 20% more damage. In PvP combat, Rake now deals 20% less damage.
    • Rip now deals 20% more damage. In PvP combat, Rip now deals 20% less damage.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Please note that tooltip description for the following Monk abilities will be inaccurate. This will be corrected in a future patch.
  • General
    • Blackout Kick now deals 10% more damage.
    • Rising Sun Kick now deals 10% more damage.
    • Tiger Palm now deals 20% more damage.
  • Windwalker
    • Fists of Fury now deals 20% more damage.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Shadow
    • Devouring Plague now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Devouring Plague now deals 10% less damage.
    • Mind Blast now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Mind Blast now deals 10% less damage.
    • Mind Flay now deals 20% more damage.
    • Mind Spike now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Mind Spike now deals 10% less damage.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  • Protection
    • Devastate now deals 6% more damage.
    • Shield Slam now deals 6% more damage.
    • Revenge now deals 6% more damage.
  • Armor Sets
    • Tier-18 4-piece set bonus for Fury Warriors now reduces the cooldown of Recklessness by 30 seconds (up from 25 seconds).

Patch 6.2.2 Release Date
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As you might have seen in the latest update to the 6.2.2 PTR Patch Notes, our current plan is to release Patch 6.2.2 on September 1.

Please keep in mind that this release date is not set in stone, as we are continuing to iron out bugs with 6.2.2’s content, including some related to enabling flight in Draenor. That said, we are optimistic that we’ll be able to have everything ready by then, so we wanted to share the current plan. We know many players -- us included! -- are excited to take to the skies above Tanaan Jungle and the rest of the Draenor continent.

Patch 6.2.2 Change Clarifications
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Hail, hero of Azeroth! The time has come to acknowledge/address faction imbalance!
We recognize there's a problem. It's why we've been nerfing the Human racial and implementing things like Merc Mode. (CM_Lore)
merc mode doesn't help Horde. It helps ally queue times. You stated so yourself!
It does help Horde, by giving Horde more people to play with.
Maybe...we'll see how that plays out. Horde rated needs bodies, which means people actually on the red side.
Also - and I couldn't say this an hour ago - we're buffing several Horde racials. (aa)

Would it not be fair to give a discount or maybe even a free faction change when massive racials changes happen like this?
The goal is not to push everyone over to Horde, just shore up some Horde racials that are underperforming. I'll ask about it, though. (CM_Lore)
and doing it in the current season is totally fine.

That would be underperforming in PVP Josh? as the top 10 progressed PVE guilds are all Horde.
Yes, in PvP. The racial changes have little to no real PvE impact. (CM_Lore)
maybe I'm just being cynical but I don't think 30s on Rocket Jump cd is going to have a major impact on the ladder.
To be honest with the listed changes I don't believe anyone is doing it to be goblin. Even if they're cool.
Sure. I also don't think that another 5% on Hardiness or Voodoo Shuffle are going to have any noticeable effect.
With a majority of comps relying on stuns to kill or silences blood elves and orcs will def rise to the occasion.
Yeah, maybe. IDK I still think Stoneform or Shadowmeld are really strong and easily on par. (CM_Lore)

Why not just get rid of all active racials and let people decide what to play based on looks/friends and not fotm.
We like racials. (CM_Lore)
We still like the actives, and disagree that they cause big problems (as long as they're tuned appropriately) (CM_Lore)
I guess issue is many horde actives offensive, all ally actives defensive. Some horde actives good in pve, not so much ally.
Maybe. That's an interesting point. I'll bring it up. (CM_Lore)

Will these 10% more 10% less in pvp be nerfs or will they deal the same as now in pvp. Wording is not clear.
+10% base, then -10% in PvP. So a very slight (~1%) nerf to those abilities, but a buff to Mind Flay. (CM_Lore)

hey can you clarify the feral damage changes. does that mean it's unchanged in pvp?
Buffed by 20% baseline, then reduced by 20% in PvP, so a very slight (~4%) nerf . (CM_Lore)

Would have been much better to have the cast time removed from War Stomp. Still suspectable to push back and DPS loss.
I don't think a 0.5 second cast is too much to ask for a 3-second AOE stun (CM_Lore)
But a 3-second silence gets a pass?
Stuns are significantly more powerful in more situations than silences. (CM_Lore)

Bring back the strong Will of Forsaken!
WotF is exactly the same as it was in Mists when everybody was undead (CM_Lore)

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