Article: WoW Shut Down in China, January 23 Hotfixes

[mysticx]

Oh well, i saw the Chinese-made ripoff game trailer on Twitter last week, such impeccable timing! Right before WoW is getting shut down, that trailer cropped up, a more cynical man than me would wonder if there's possibly a connection...

[Mendzia]

Do you think with the China money gone, they'll focus less on selling us garbage? I honestly dunno what this means but they often kowtowed to Winnie The Pooh so maybe now less so?

No. They will focus on monetisation us even more.
China will most likely be back tho in a few months when they will find another partner.

[Nymrohd]

No! I, too, have proved my worth, Odyn. I am God-King Skovald! These mortals dare not challenge my claim to the aegis!
If these false champions will not yield the aegis by choice... then they will surrender it in death!
Give up the aegis or die!

Don't you dare nerf Skovald's intro!

[Antbregante]

Can't believe it is forever....not when there is money to be made for both sides.

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Yeah...I also don't know what that means. "kowtow to Winnie The Poo" I mean....that bear being a quiete old british invention and all.

Hell...I never ever even thought Mists of Pandaria having Pandaren and all is just to appeal to one culture. Not to say that US companies don't censor / change stuff according to chinese or general foreign demands, mind you...because in fact they do.

Sometimes in a crazy way and look....they even change their product to appeal to other (western / muslim / age restricted) countries:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vIrZDuyfrAw (Like Cloudy with a chance of meatballs becomes Cloudy with a chance of Falafel in Israel)

The Winnie the Pooh thing is because in China they banned images of him because people said he looks like Xi Jinping.

[Neotart]

Finally some HoV hp nerfs, that dung was tight like my pants, still could use like one minute on timer plus.

a simple respawn at the fork would be better.

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Permanent unless they partner with another Chinese company (Per regulations for outside-of-China-companies). It was just a failed agreement between Net ease and Blizzard. It hasn't been clear exactly what caused the break up, but it's almost certainly one side wanting more money.

it was legit posted why....China wanted all data rights. Blizzard has the right to protect its players info, China didnt agree. ergo breakup

[Shakzor]

The Winnie the Pooh thing is because in China they banned images of him because people said he looks like Xi Jinping.

Actually he is not banned in China. Winnie the Pooh is still a thing there and you can also find pictures of him on the internet there, even on their own search engines. The only things very likely banned, are pictures of him being directly compared to their totally not dictator (or rather the other way around)
Speaking of which, was surprised the other day that Pooh apparently has overtaken Pokemon as the highest grossing franchise

[loras]

WoW China Shut Down
Today was the day that World of Warcraft shut down in China.

Jian Guo made some art to commemorate the shutdown.

WoW Hotfixes - Updated January 23

Hey all! Here are today’s hotfixes.

Dungeons and Raids

• Algeth’ar Academy
  
  • Vexamus
    
    • Fixed an issue allowing players to line of sight Mana Bombs and Arcane Fissure.
• Mythic+
  
  • Affixes
    
    • Thundering
      
      • Mark of Wind now prefers tank specialized players.
        
        • Developers’ note: We’ve heard the feedback from players that safely removing their mark on tank players can be overly dangerous in many situations. Tank players will still have the option of being involved in removing Marks of Lightning, but we believe this change will offer players increased flexibility in terms of how they choose to approach the affix.
  • Halls of Valor
    
    • Olmyr’s and Solsten’s health reduced by 25%.
    • Valarjar Aspirant health reduced 20%.
    • Valarjar Marksman health reduced by 10%.
    • Valajar Purifier health reduced by 20%.
    • The health of the four kings found in Odyn’s throne room has been reduced by 20%.
    • Valajar Champion’s no longer use Enraged Regeneration.
    • Ebonclaw Worg no longer use Ferocious Bite.
    • God-King Skovald
      
      • Is now less verbose when stating his claim to the Aegis of Aggramar.
    • Hyrja
      
      • Health reduced by 10%.
    • Fenryr
      
      • Health reduced by 10%.
      • Ravenous Leap bleed effect now has a 30 second duration (Was infinite).
    • Odyn
      
      • The periodic damage on Runic Brand has been reduced by 20%.
  • The Nokhud Offensive
    
    • Balakar Khan
      
      • Nokhud Stormcaster health reduced by 20%.
      • Balakar Khan’s Static Spear prefers not to target the same player for subsequent casts.
      • Balakar Khan’s Static Spear area of effect damage reduced by 30%.
    • Teera and Maruuk
      
      • Ancestral Bond is now applied when Teera and Maruuk are 15 yards apart. (was 10 yards).
  • Vault of the Incarnates
    
    • Broodkeeper Diurna
      
      • Reduced the base damage on Stoneslam Detonation by 63%. This will reduce the need to bring only tank-specialization classes that can avoid the effect by being immune to it.

Items and Rewards

• Fixed an issue with Darkmoon Deck: Dance where the cast was bouncing more or less than intended for certain cards.
• Fixed an issue with Darkmoon Decks where players would sometimes not be granted a Card after the cooldown had completed.
• Fixed an issue where, if a player lost their Spiteful Storm Aura, all players also using the trinket on the same target would lose their auras as well.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

• Sack of Ulduar Spoils and Large Sack of Ulduar Spoils now drop Emblems of Conquest instead of Emblems of Triumph.
• Creatures and NPCs
  
  • Elder Bluewolf of the Lunar Festival has been found, and we’ve relocated them to the Wintergrasp fortress.
• Dungeons and Raids
  
  • Weakened the increased healing taken effect generated from Blood of the Loa in Troll Heroic Dungeons with Defense Protocol Alpha active. That buff now has a 4 second duration (was 10 seconds) and cancels when the enemy is no longer affected by Blood of the Loa.
  • Ulduar
    
    • Iron Council
      
      • Stormcaller Brundir’s ` will no longer get stuck midair if killed during his transitions into and out of Lightning Tendrils.
• Professions
  
  • Fixed an issue where you could not abandon Leatherworking.

That art looks better than many if not outright most of the official stuff, exceptionally well done.

Let's hope they find their own way back to nice fantasy stories and games somehow.

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No! I, too, have proved my worth, Odyn. I am God-King Skovald! These mortals dare not challenge my claim to the aegis!
If these false champions will not yield the aegis by choice... then they will surrender it in death!
Give up the aegis or die!

Don't you dare nerf Skovald's intro!

Biggest nerf ever.

Honestly though? I hope this is limited only for m+, perhaps optionally limited for repeated solo farming old content.

Far too much content us neutered and maulef just because it's old and "people have heard ut SOOO many times".
Not saying convenience has no place, but stories and dialogues with missing pieces that cannot be restored are just the worst.

[Kathranis]

Must be a terrible day for them. Imagine having to say goodbye to your WoW characters for the last time. It was hard enough for me in SWG and Wildstar nevermind WoW.

It'll likely be back, and Blizzard implemented methods for them to make offline backups of their character and account data so everything can be restored in the future.

[Shadowferal]

As I understand it the Chinese have plenty of games to choose from. And as someone else mentioned in another thread, "Wayfinder," and "Soulforge" are being released this year as well.

[FelPlague]

When is MMO Champ going to post the article of the guy that was fired from Blizzard (WoW Classic Dev) for refusing to give an employee a low evaluation rating because Blizzard wants a curve/low to curb bonuses?

Oh... forgot Chode or w/e his name is on their payroll.

He was not fired, he quit...

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Damn, considering everything is just cheap rehashed content now (basically every dungeon in this expansion is from the outside created world and not unique), the bugs are all over the place (played since Vanilla and seen more bugs in this expansion than every old one combined) and so on, just speaks heaps about how little money/effort they put into WoW nowadays. Wonder what's gonna happen when all China money is cut off, the budget for next expansion will be insanely slim. I mean, a shitty lootbox mobile game earns more than a full blown mmorpg nowadays, so should probably expect rehashed even crappier expansions from now on, it's simply not profitable enough to make proper games.

Yep, worried as F that Dragonflight and it's super shallow content quality and reused zones are just the beginning.

????? This zone is the biggest zones since vanilla. and do you forget classic also had TONS of these dungeons that were just "outdoors" zulgurub, zulfurrak, scholomance, diremaul, shadowfang keep, AQ 20/40

"more bugs then every prior expansion combined" yeah no that is just made up.

[rogoth]

He was not fired, he quit...

he was released from his post before he had the chance to quit, according to the latest news reporting, so unless you have with your blizzard brown nosing some inside info that contradicts that, i would love to see it.

[FelPlague]

he was released from his post before he had the chance to quit, according to the latest news reporting, so unless you have with your blizzard brown nosing some inside info that contradicts that, i would love to see it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ranking-system
Birmingham wrote that he refused to work at Blizzard until the company removed this stack ranking policy. “If this policy can be reversed, perhaps my Blizzard can still be saved, and if so I would love to continue working there,” Birmingham wrote. “If this policy cannot be reversed, then the Blizzard Entertainment I want to work for doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ll have to find somewhere else to work.”

Before he sent the email, Birmingham told a large group of colleagues he was resigning. He said he was then called by an HR representative to confirm his resignation and he told them that he was still considering it but that he would not work until the policy was retracted. He was then terminated, according to the email. Birmingham didn’t respond to a request for comment.



He said he was quitting
he said he would not work until things would change
they cut the tie early
yeah so technically they fired him, but he literally told them he was going to quit
and in the work enviroment, he got the better deal, if he had quit he would get no reverence, getting fired? well guess what, you getting some money.

but dude literally said he was quitting and refused to work. he wasnt just "fired randomly" or had the rug pulled out from under his feet.
Go to literally ANY company, tell everyone you are quitting, tell your boss you are not going to work. and see what happens. you get fired. that is not them firing you, that is you quitting, it is just who presses the trigger.

imagine you joined a raid group, but told them you were going to leave, and refuse to fight the bosses, but you sit afk in the raid. if they then kick you you can't claim "THEY KICKED ME FOR NO REASON!" no, you quit, but refused to leave.

Dudes great, I agree with him, and i hope they change the policy.
but he quit, end of story. he told his colleagues he was going to quit, he told his bosses he was going to quit, but he refused to leave, he said it himself "i will stay but I will not work" he quit. they just made it official.

[Sulika]

It'll likely be back, and Blizzard implemented methods for them to make offline backups of their character and account data so everything can be restored in the future.

If anyone figures out how to reverse engineer and edit those files that's going to be fun.

[BrokenRavens]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ranking-system
Birmingham wrote that he refused to work at Blizzard until the company removed this stack ranking policy. “If this policy can be reversed, perhaps my Blizzard can still be saved, and if so I would love to continue working there,” Birmingham wrote. “If this policy cannot be reversed, then the Blizzard Entertainment I want to work for doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ll have to find somewhere else to work.”

Before he sent the email, Birmingham told a large group of colleagues he was resigning. He said he was then called by an HR representative to confirm his resignation and he told them that he was still considering it but that he would not work until the policy was retracted. He was then terminated, according to the email. Birmingham didn’t respond to a request for comment.



He said he was quitting
he said he would not work until things would change
they cut the tie early
yeah so technically they fired him, but he literally told them he was going to quit
and in the work enviroment, he got the better deal, if he had quit he would get no reverence, getting fired? well guess what, you getting some money.

but dude literally said he was quitting and refused to work. he wasnt just "fired randomly" or had the rug pulled out from under his feet.
Go to literally ANY company, tell everyone you are quitting, tell your boss you are not going to work. and see what happens. you get fired. that is not them firing you, that is you quitting, it is just who presses the trigger.

imagine you joined a raid group, but told them you were going to leave, and refuse to fight the bosses, but you sit afk in the raid. if they then kick you you can't claim "THEY KICKED ME FOR NO REASON!" no, you quit, but refused to leave.

Dudes great, I agree with him, and i hope they change the policy.
but he quit, end of story. he told his colleagues he was going to quit, he told his bosses he was going to quit, but he refused to leave, he said it himself "i will stay but I will not work" he quit. they just made it official.

Blizzard's 'Workplace Ranking' For Employees Sounds Like Hell [Update]
A manager has reportedly been fired for speaking up against it

Birmingham goes on to say he can’t work under a system like this, which he and other managers (who were asked to keep it a secret!) had managed to “circumvent or skip” for the last few years but which had recently begun to be enforced. He reportedly told staff he would be leaving the company if the policy was not reversed, but shortly after the email was sent he was called into HR and “terminated”.


https://kotaku.com/blizzard-manager-...ted-1850021036

[Stormwolf64]

How does that stack ranking measure up with the insurgence of activists at Blizzard who's no doubt mostly looking for things to be outraged about?

[AtomR]

If anyone figures out how to reverse engineer and edit those files that's going to be fun.

Those files were most likely backed up in blizzard servers, not local files.

[Pratt]

How does that stack ranking measure up with the insurgence of activists at Blizzard who's no doubt mostly looking for things to be outraged about?

I mean, it's pretty reasonable to be outraged when you're presented with a list of job expectations, you fully meet them, and then at the end of the year you're given a failing grade, no raise or bonus, and put on the chopping block.

[FelPlague]

Blizzard's 'Workplace Ranking' For Employees Sounds Like Hell [Update]
A manager has reportedly been fired for speaking up against it

Birmingham goes on to say he can’t work under a system like this, which he and other managers (who were asked to keep it a secret!) had managed to “circumvent or skip” for the last few years but which had recently begun to be enforced. He reportedly told staff he would be leaving the company if the policy was not reversed, but shortly after the email was sent he was called into HR and “terminated”.


https://kotaku.com/blizzard-manager-...ted-1850021036

Yeah that is a heavily summerized version of what happened, again.

"Birmingham wrote that he refused to work at Blizzard until the company removed this stack ranking policy."
“If this policy cannot be reversed, then the Blizzard Entertainment I want to work for doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ll have to find somewhere else to work.”
"Birmingham told a large group of colleagues he was resigning. He said he was then called by an HR representative to confirm his resignation and he told them that he was still considering it but that he would not work until the policy was retracted. He was then terminated"

Dude told all his colleagues he was quitting
he told his boss he was quitting
he told his boss he refused to work till it was changed
he was then terminated.


He quit, but he made his bosses pull the trigger, so that he would get firing benefits, he quit, entirely, but he didnt make it official, that way blizzard would have to, and that way he gets benefits, its a super common and smart tactic.

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Those files were most likely backed up in blizzard servers, not local files.

Nope, they were actually local files, because its china blizzard is not allowed to touch them really, so they are actually enctryped files backed up on the PC of the chinese players.

[BrokenRavens]

Yeah that is a heavily summerized version of what happened, again.

"Birmingham wrote that he refused to work at Blizzard until the company removed this stack ranking policy."
“If this policy cannot be reversed, then the Blizzard Entertainment I want to work for doesn’t exist anymore, and I’ll have to find somewhere else to work.”
"Birmingham told a large group of colleagues he was resigning. He said he was then called by an HR representative to confirm his resignation and he told them that he was still considering it but that he would not work until the policy was retracted. He was then terminated"

Dude told all his colleagues he was quitting
he told his boss he was quitting
he told his boss he refused to work till it was changed
he was then terminated.


He quit, but he made his bosses pull the trigger, so that he would get firing benefits, he quit, entirely, but he didnt make it official, that way blizzard would have to, and that way he gets benefits, its a super common and smart tactic.

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Nope, they were actually local files, because its china blizzard is not allowed to touch them really, so they are actually enctryped files backed up on the PC of the chinese players.

There is a difference between threatening to quit and actually quitting.

[FelPlague]

There is a difference between threatening to quit and actually quitting.

He told all his colleagues he was quitting, and literally said to his bosses he refused to work, and was going to quit.

there is a difference, and I already said it.
saying he is going to quit, and then refusing to work till they fire him gets him benefits.
just quitting gets him nothing.