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    Gara'jal the Spiritbinder, Beta Class Balance, Raid Testing, Blue Posts, TCG Art

    Digital Purchase Restrictions Have Been Updated, Repair Costs, Diablo III Feedback, Blue Posts, Diablo 3 - From a New Angle

    Beta Giveaway: We sent out the beta keys to winners today by PM. Make sure to log in and check, as you may not have email notification on receiving a PM turned on!

    Gara'jal the Spiritbinder - Raid Encounter Preview
    Gara'jal the Spiritbinder is the third boss of the Mogu'shan Vaults encounter. During testing only one group was able to defeat the boss.



    Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
    Mogu'shan Vaults
    The mogu, proud of their supremacy, kept lengthy records of their accomplishments within a great complex of vaults. Guarded by ferocious magical beings, these sacred chambers have remained silent since the mogu's departure.

    Achievements

    Gara'jal the Spiritbinder
    • Spirit Totem - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder periodically summons a Spirit Totem at a random location.
      • Cross Over - Spirit Totems cause the nearest 3 players within 7 yards to cross over to the spirit world when they are destroyed. The process of Crossing Over leaves the victim with 30% of their current health.
      • Cross Over - Players use Spirit Totems to cross over into the spirit world. Players exist in the spirit world for 30 sec before returning to the real world.
      • The Spirit World - Players crossing over to the Spirit World must return to the real world within 30 sec or die.
        • Frail Soul - Returning to the real world from the Spirit World inflicts players with a Frail Soul for 60 sec. Attempting to cross into the Spirit World with a Frail Soul kills the player.
      • Spiritual Innervation - Healing a player in the Spirit World energizes their soul with Spiritual Innervation. The effect of Spiritual Innervation varies depending on the class and specialization of the healed player, and the effect grows with larger heals.
    • Shadowy Minion - Shadowy Minions only exist in the Spirit World, but damage players in the real world with Spiritual Grasp.
      • Spiritual Grasp - A Shadowy Minion reaches into the real world with a Spritual Grasp, inflicting 20,000 Shadow damage on a random player in the real world.
      • Shadow Bolt - A Shadowy Minion fires a bolt at a random player in the Spirit World, inflicting 26,000 Shadow damage.
    • Voodoo Dolls - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder fixates on his current target and then that player and 2 other players to turn into Voodoo Dolls. A Voodoo Doll copies 100% of their damage received to all other Voodoo Dolls in the raid. The Voodoo Doll effect persists until either the victim perishes or Gara'jal the Spiritbinder banishes his fixated target to the Spirit World. Players turned into Voodoo Dolls cannot enter the spirit world. In 25 player raids, Gara'jal chooses 3 other players from the raid to turn into Voodoo Dolls.
    • Banishment - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder banishes his current target to the Spirit World. While in the Spirit World, a Severer of Souls assaults the victim. In Heroic Difficulty, three Severers of Souls attack.
      • Severer of Souls - Severers of Souls attempt to tear apart the soul of Banished victims.
        • Soul Sever - If players do not defeat every Severer of Souls within 30 sec., the Banished victim dies.
        • Soul Explosion - The Severer of Souls immense spirtual energy explodes outward at a random player in the real world. The Soul Explosion inflicts 45,000 Shadow Damage to the target and all players within 5 yards of them.
    • Frenzy - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder Frenzies when he reaches 20% remaining health, gaining 100% melee haste and inflicting 50% additional damage. Gara'jal the Spiritbinder also stops summoning Spirit Totems.
    • Right Cross - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder attacks with a crushing right handed punch, inflcting 100% weapon damage as Shadow damage to his target.
    • Left Hook - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder attacks with a mighty swing of his left fist, inflcting 100% weapon damage as Shadow damage to his target.
    • Hammer Fist - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder slams his opponent with both fists, inflcting 100% weapon damage as Shadow damage to his target.
    • Sweeping Kick - Gara'jal the Spiritbinder attacks with a sweeping kick, inflcting 100% weapon damage as Shadow damage to his target.



    Beta Class Balance Analysis
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    Why do Unholy Aura/Windfury Totem (and other attack speed buffs) not increase rune regeneration speed? Same question with goblin racial. Heroism and Unholy Frenzy however do. In contrast a caster's Cast time, DOTs and HOTs are affected by group buffs as well as things like Heroism and Power Infusion. Is this a bug? If not, could you please outline exactly what it is that will affect a Death Knight's rune speed regeneration?
    Sure. “Haste” is somewhat of an overloaded word, in WoW’s vocabulary. There are, mechanically, several different kinds of haste:

    Melee: Affects melee attack speed
    Ranged: Affects ranged attack speed
    Spell: Affects spell casting speed
    Regen: Affects rune/energy/focus regen speed

    Various sources of haste provide some or all of those. Haste rating, for example, provides all of them. There’s a raid buff that just applies 5% spell haste. And another that just applies 10% melee and ranged Haste. Typically, we refer to the combination melee+ranged as "attack speed," to indicate that it’s only affecting your attack speed, not your regen.

    However, we’re not entirely consistent about this. On the character screen, the line that says “Haste” is really showing attack speed. We try to be specific about which one we’re giving you in specific spells or abilities. For example, the goblin racial and Unholy Aura specifically state that they increase attack speed, so they don’t give regen haste. Occasionally we mess up and refer to something as the wrong type of haste, but I don’t know of any more of those offhand.

    Hunter (Forums)
    What? It's already not worth using either single target or in an AoE situation. Also, hunter shots are currently partially blockable as are pet attacks. Pet attacks are also suffering from glancing blows. Is this intended?
    All of the hunter level 90 talents are getting an across the board damage buff (they’re intended to be worth using single-target, and currently they’re not). I just meant that Barrage’s damage will be lowered a bit relative than Powershot. Hunter ranged attacks should not be blockable, and they currently are (known issue, will be fixed). Pet attacks should be blockable and able to glance.

    Mage (Forums)
    In regards to the mage level 90 talent Incanter's Ward, I have a bad feeling the fact that Priest shield spells are absorbed on higher priority than IW is going to foster a hateful relationship between a mage with the talent and the disc priest who is spell-blocking him. It would be a nice improvement to have Incanter's Ward at least have a higher absorb priority than other raiders' absorb spells if not also higher than Ice Barrier.
    That’s a bug (or rather, we’re waiting on some code changes to support it that haven’t been implemented yet). Incanter’s Ward should always be used first to absorb damage.

    Is Mage mana regen intended to increase only with Haste Rating, or with total haste? At present, it appears that neither the Frost Armor 5% haste buff nor the 5% haste aura increase regen.
    Bug. Mage mana regen is currently scaling with melee haste instead of spell haste like it should be. That will be fixed in a future build.

    We're also really wondering about the various "ignite-like" mechanics in the game....

    Specific questions: Do these mechanics have the same basic implementation internally? In other words, can we trust that there is a single set of assumptions we can make about how the damage calculation and propagation works that will allow us to simulate all these mechanics correctly? And are there any details you can give us that would reduce the number of assumptions we need to make?

    Ahhh, Ignite mechanics. What a storied history they have.

    While there have been several versions of Ignite and similar effects, historically, the general goal for quite a while now has been for this sort of effect to be simply a way to move part of the damage from an attack into a DoT, to reduce burst, and add flavor. And since these attacks were likely to happen again before the DoT finished, each one needed to "roll" the damage left over from the previous DoT into the new one. However, that damage rolling processing has always been somewhat delayed. That leads to the “munching” problem (two hits could land at nearly the same time, and the first one wouldn’t have been processed yet when the second one lands, leading to the first one’s DoT getting overwritten by the second one’s).

    However, we got some code changes done in 5.0 that handles rolling periodics better. If Blackout Kick does 20% of its damage as a DoT, then at the end of the fight, Blackout Kick’s DoT should have done exactly 20% of the damage of Blackout Kick (barring any rounding errors or overkill of course). The actual logic involved is rather simple: When reapplying this DoT, take the damage left in the previous DoT and distribute it evenly across the new DoT’s ticks. Do remember that refreshing a DoT refreshes it to the full duration, plus the next tick (so that you can clip DoTs by 1 tick and have no loss).

    For example, suppose Blackout Kick does 20% additional damage as a DoT that ticks every 2 sec, for 4sec.

    0sec: Blackout Kick lands for 100 damage. DoT applied, with 4sec remaining, doing 10 damage per tick.
    2sec: Blackout Kick DoT ticks for 10 damage. 2sec remaining, still 10 damage per tick.
    3sec: Another Blackout Kick lands, and this time it crits, for 200 damage. The DoT is refreshed and extended to 4sec past the next tick; 5sec remaining, or 3 ticks. It needs to do a total of 10 damage still from the previous DoT, and 40 more for this one, for a total of 50 damage over 3 ticks, so ticks for ~17 damage, 3 more times.
    4sec: Blackout Kick DoT ticks for 17 damage. 4sec remaining, still 17 damage per tick.
    6sec: Blackout Kick DoT ticks for 17 damage. 2sec remaining, still 17 damage per tick.
    8sec: Blackout Kick DoT ticks for 17 damage, and expires.

    Hope that helps.

    Spells that use this mechanic include: Ignite, Blackout Kick, Echo of Light, Devouring Plague, Touch of Karma, Hand of Gul’dan, Bloodbath, Temporal Shield, Piercing Shots, Explosive Shot, and several set bonuses.

    One additional addendum on the Ignite things: Explosive Shot does not do this in your current build, but will in the next. The others should all work that way in your current build.

    Priest (Forums)
    How does Psyfiend pick which target and in what order to fear if there are more then one enemy attacking the priest? Is it based on location, order of who attacked when, or is it totally random?
    Without trying it out, I believe it prefers the last target that attempted an attack on the priest.

    What counts as the three direct attacks for Spectral Guise? Any attack that isn't a DoT, or is there more specific list of attacks?
    Any damage event, including DoT ticks.
    What exactly is considered a range attack for Phantasm? Is it any attack that can be cast beyond melee range, or are there spells that are exception to this?
    The mechanics for this are identical to Smoke Bomb or Camouflage, so try those out to compare.

    Shaman (Forums)
    Our shaman guy is working on implementing Stormlash, but he's lacking details on how the damage scales, in particular whether or not it scales with the cast time of the proccing spell, and if so what the formula is. I haven't looked into it myself so I don't have any more specific questions, but any other details you could share on Stormlash would be helpful as well.
    We’re currently in the process of tuning Stormlash, so you can expect its numbers to change somewhat. It does vary the damage by the cast time of the spell or attack that proc’d it, but that formula is likely to change (and/or likely to include other variables). I’ll try to get that formula for you after we tune it.

    Warlock (Forums)
    I'm assuming you're referring to the dot it triggers, Shadowflame, but that functions as a dot with a stacking mechanic: For one, it can crit, which seems counter to the whole premise of rolling forward a fixed amount of damage. It also just doesn't roll damage in that way at all - I can cast two HoGs back-to-back or I can wait and do the second one just before Shadowflame wears off, and after the second HoG I get a 2-stack dot ticking 7 times for the same amount in both cases.
    By Hand of Gul’dan, I did indeed mean Shadowflame. However, as you point out, this rolling periodic mechanic interacts rather oddly with debuffs that stack. So, we’re just going to take it off of Shadowflame. Shadowflame will be a simple DoT that can stack, not using this rolling periodic mechanic.

    Warrior (Forums)
    Pre-MoP Deep Wounds used this mechanic - does the MoP version continue to use it, or something else?
    Mists’ Deep Wounds is no longer that kind of DoT; it’s now much more similar to Rend.

    Raid Testing Schedule - June 27
    Check back tomorrow afternoon for streams of the raid testing!
    Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    On Wednesday, June 27, we'll be testing two encounters.

    The encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Beta Test Realms, regardless of suggested geographical region.

    Will of the Emperor - 10 Player Normal
    10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)

    Imperial Vizier Zor'lok - 10 Player Normal
    16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

    As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

    Blue Posts
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    Add Facebook Friends Option in WoW
    Can Blizzard find a way to hook FB accounts and wow accounts together so when im on wow i can find all my FB friends that play wow and send them a real ID friend request?
    It's a possibility for the future. We have this for Starcraft II as someone already mentioned, I just couldn't promise it or give any sort of potential date by which such a thing would happen (if we do it.) (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Dungeon Difficulty
    My question is why does Blizzard nerf heroic dungeons, i mean at first they are hard but what people don't realize about them is that you gear up. Hard is good and i'm sure most people don't want an easy game but a hard game that takes skill.
    It's always about balance as always. We have a variety of people who play the game and we have to keep in mind what constitutes challenging and what constitutes frustrating and find a way to move frustrating back in line with challenging. Then from there, we run into different ideas of what challenging is.

    So, we have to take a look at where the trouble spots are, investigate who is making it through and who is having difficulty. Beyond that, it then gets down to the nitty gritty. Is it simply a class issue? Is it a mechanic issue? Is the dungeon overall just too difficult for a variety of class combinations to get through? At what point do people "give up" or just flat out leave or not even attempt the dungeon to begin with?

    Once we determine what is the "core" contributing factor, the designers decide on a course of action. Sometimes that course of action is to alter the dungeon itself and make it more accessible. We want the game to be fun. We want people to feel like they can accomplish the task at hand without it being a painful endeavor. We also ultimately want people to get a chance to see the content to begin with. The idea of creating a "piece of art" is to share it with others. The same is true for the various aspects of the game. While there may be aspects of the game that are less accessible for one reason another to a wide array of people, something that's considered a key aspect of the available gameplay is not something we want to heavily restrict or hold people back from.

    They were good for 5 man groups. They were not good for 5 random people playing together.
    This is a very good statement. I have often said that World of Warcraft has a lot of working parts and part of making development changes and balance is in being able to discern which parts need a little extra greasing to work better. There is also a distinct difference between a random group vs. a guild group or group of friends working together. While skill plays a part, so does understanding the people you're playing with and making what they do/how they play work for the group. If you aren't able to adapt to that, or the mechanics of the dungeon make adjusting too difficult, then it's another flag that perhaps something isn't working as well as it should be to allow that progress.

    Again, people do want challenge, but challenge is different for everyone. Understanding where the limits of human patience are is important. For example, I'm more apt to stubbornly keep going up against something until I get it right no matter how long it takes, (give it a break maybe now and then) but go back to it so I can "beat" it. Others may give something a try once or twice then give up. In this case, our tolerance levels for "failure" or anticipation of gaining success at some point are a bit different.

    I'm a bit confused with these parts in comparison to that of mechanics. For myself and doing the random groups and succeeding in the majority of them, I found what was usually the key point was players willing to work together and help each other and that those who are unwilling to adapt typically resulted in failure. With that said, are you saying that in the case of players not willing to be team players, the developers will make changes even if its not the fault of the mechanics?
    Generally speaking, if a majority of randoms are not succeeding, then there is some potential evidence that it's a mechanics issue either in the classes being used (and their abilities) or the dungeon mechanics being difficult or hard to understand. If we're seeing a margin of error but overall progress is "acceptable" for a large portion of players given time, we may just hang back and watch. The key is in allowing for that reasonable amount of time to go by in order to gather appropriate data to know for sure what it is that's occurring.

    So let me turn this around. Does Blizzard think that it's acceptable for a dungeon to be punishing?
    Sure, to a degree. We're introducing Challenge Modes in Mists of Pandaria and those will be challenging though I hesitate to use "punishing". Again, we want it to be fun, so if you feel "punished" for trying to do it versus enjoy the challenge, it can be potentially problematic getting more people interested in it. After all, we expect that those who take part are going to be doing it with friends or guildmates which should keep it at "challenging" vs. /beatheadondesk .

    The thing is why make harder content for the ones you call hardcore players just to nerf it later for others to get in?
    Usually the changes are done after a period of time has gone by in which most of those "hardcore" players have done the content. That's cool and all, but again, getting others the opportunity experience the content isn't a bad thing either. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Human Female Model Update
    Blizzard keeps talking about updating the models, but nothing has happened. How about in the next expansion? Please at least give the girls legs!
    We did indeed say we'd like to update the models and it's definitely on our to-do list. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Undead Model UIpdate
    More customization options would be fun, for sure. We're always having to weigh up which areas to work on in the game next though. Right now the team is focusing on Mists, then we'll be creating new content beyond that to keep everyone progressing. I'd personally love to be able to change my character's build, cheekbones, leg length etc. but if I had to choose between that and waiting longer for new content, I'd probably go with the new content.

    It's all very well having a great-looking character, but I need content to make me want to log on in the first place. What priority would you give things, just out of interest? (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Server Faction Balance
    We continue to look into possible changes, we're not ignoring the issue. The cross-realm zones will make areas feel less secluded on low-population realms, you'll feel less vulnerable to passing raiding parties from the opposing faction. But aside from that, we don't have any news for you on this subject yet. I'll reiterate; we are aware of your situation, and believe me, we want you all happy and enjoying the game, and as soon as we come up with anything else that may help those of you who are unhappy on these affected realms, we'll let you know.

    For now though, please continue adding your thoughts to the existing threads (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

    Trading Card Game Art
    Blizzard has updated the Trading Card Game art gallery to feature ten new pieces.



    Last edited by chaud; 2012-07-01 at 04:28 PM.

  2. #2
    Watched the streams of this boss and he looks incredibly cool. With proper tuning its going to be a great fight, even on normal.

  3. #3
    Please, log the american test to my parser http://wowraider.ru/reports/index.cdiml?locale=en wont' be able to participate.
    Also interested in your feedbacks about it. In contrast of WoL it's splitting and detecting fights correctly even for mop. And some more features wol don't have.

  4. #4
    The Patient
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    Haven't ranged attacks always been blockable?

  5. #5
    Seems like I didn't win the key. Oh well grats to the winners.

  6. #6
    Congratulations to the winners. welcome to the beta! have fun!

  7. #7
    boring boss fight
    Last edited by Tarx; 2012-06-27 at 07:27 AM.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Gz to some1 Else !

  9. #9
    Deleted
    didn't get a key *sadface*. and nah hunters attacks weren't blockable at any time since they never ned any expertise or anything like that

  10. #10
    Deleted
    Valiona 2.0 (which isn't a bad thing, the fight was great in my opinion).

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Congratulations to the winners have fun in the Beta

  12. #12
    Warchief Zatheyll's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tarx View Post
    boring boss fight
    Because watching a video really shows you anything about the boss other then some mechanics most people who watch it don't even pay attention to.


    Looks like a really cool boss, and I hope it will be entertaining. Really smart move on Curse to help get in addon authors to the beta so they can start working on their addons.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Zatheyll View Post
    Because watching a video really shows you anything about the boss other then some mechanics most people who watch it don't even pay attention to.


    Looks like a really cool boss, and I hope it will be entertaining. Really smart move on Curse to help get in addon authors to the beta so they can start working on their addons.
    this, it was a unique fight, except the dolls, stupid stuff

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by moveth View Post
    Watched the streams of this boss and he looks incredibly cool. With proper tuning its going to be a great fight, even on normal.
    This is why I want an upvote feature on here

  15. #15
    oh poo, ive never got a beta and this one woulda been fun :P

  16. #16
    Fluffy Kitten Sonnillon's Avatar
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    Lol, at first glance this boss looks like it will be the pain for my guild.. Still only HC Morchok down (*cries inside*)

  17. #17
    Server Faction Balance
    We continue to look into possible changes, we're not ignoring the issue. The cross-realm zones will make areas feel less secluded on low-population realms, you'll feel less vulnerable to passing raiding parties from the opposing faction. But aside from that, we don't have any news for you on this subject yet. I'll reiterate; we are aware of your situation, and believe me, we want you all happy and enjoying the game, and as soon as we come up with anything else that may help those of you who are unhappy on these affected realms, we'll let you know.

    For now though, please continue adding your thoughts to the existing threads
    "For now though, please keep your subscription running and continue wasting your time in the existing threads."

  18. #18
    Bloodsail Admiral Msi's Avatar
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    Won a Beta key, thank you so much!!

  19. #19
    Nice unique armor the boss has on there..........Not..................Priest tier from Ulduar.

  20. #20
    Oh well maybe beta next year :-) can't wait for mists to be released.

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