Siege of Orgrimmar Encounters, Patch 5.4 Item Levels, 5.4 Class Changes, Blue Posts

[chaud]

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Patch 5.4 - Siege of Orgrimmar Encounters
Many of the bosses have unfinished or placeholder models. You can see a little bit more about why Garrosh looks like this during part of the fight in the encounter journal entries.

Patch 5.4 Item Levels
Ghostcrawler gave us an idea of the item levels we will see on Patch 5.4 loot.

Updated Garrosh Model
Ghostcrawler also replied to a question about new character models. You can reply to his tweet to let him know what you think!

Patch 5.4 Class Changes

Kil'Jaeden's Cunning Feedback
The simple fact is that the constant, passive ability to perform a complete DPS rotation while moving was never intended to be a core feature of the Warlock class. Those who remember the early days of Patch 5.0 will recall that, initially, Kil’Jaeden’s Cunning actually increased cast time whenever it was triggered. In those days, that extra cast time made the talent so unattractive that very few players actually took it. We decided to try it as only a snare instead, but that has had the opposite effect: in Patch 5.3, virtually all Affliction Warlocks are using Kil'Jaeden’s Cunning. Remember, we want talents to be meaningful choices. If one talent is far and away superior to its neighbors, there’s a problem. There were also some very strange side effects (such as the ability to cast something like Fear while ducking in and out of line of sight).

Now, as I mentioned, the ability to always cast on the move wasn’t intended as a core Warlock feature (otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a talent). However, that doesn’t mean we want Warlock DPS to plummet every time there’s a fire on the ground. One thing that may have gone under the radar is the fact that the new version of KJC is not on the global cooldown, and can be cast while another cast is already in process. So, for example, you won’t have to interrupt a Chaos Bolt to activate KJC should you need to react to something in a hurry.

Furthermore, it’s a change that we’re certainly going to balance around. Remember, we’re very early in what is likely to be a lengthy PTR cycle. There’s plenty of time to tweak and tinker with it. In fact, a recent change made internally allows Haunt to be cast while moving by default. The goal is most certainly not that Warlocks lose out on a ton of DPS or lose viability in raid encounters. We do encourage you to hop on the PTR, experiment with it, and tell us what think once you’ve gotten some hands-on time!

I dont know if this is an issue with implementation on the PTR or bad information, I tried the new KJC on the ptr and it was on the GCD and it did interrupt a current spell cast.
If it's acting that way on the PTR currently, it's just an outdated implementation of the spell. Again, we're very early in the PTR cycle. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Patch 5.4 PTR Class Changes
"Moonkin Form no longer reduces all damage taken by 15%"
This is huge nerf for PvP... You need to compensate or something. Else I'm doomed to play arenas on alts again
We removed these because they were causing a lot of problems in PvE situations. Don't fret though as we intend to balance around this change as we can adjust the damage in PvP to compensate for this in many different ways, such as resilience.

To those wondering why Aspect of the Iron Hawk was only reduced in damage reduction rather than removed, this is because it's a talent and it still needs to have a purpose. We are happy that this change will mean that the other talents in that tier will be more attractive now.

In general I think that gamebreaking effects, such as the Warrior one, do not fit into PvP. Even if the chance of proccing is only <1%, it still feels out of place. I think we would get the "5.1 TBF"-situation
The goal is for PvE set bonuses to not be the best choice possible, but not for them to be worthless either. We don't want PvE-focused players to be afraid to set foot in PvP by deactivating these cool set bonuses in PvP. If a PvE set bonus proves problematic though, we'll adjust it accordingly.

What i do not understand though is why now add it all in a certain rating and not giving em gradually like tbc? As you also said there are no rewards for those below the said ratings which is quite high for many so there is no "within reach" goal that will push certain mindset of ppl to try a lil harder every time
This follows the same logic as that of the Challenge mode armor rewards. Since they're a purely cosmetic reward, it doesn't make much sense to reward items one at a time because having several different items of varying colors would look out of place.

This is overpowered. You'll have to be lower it to 20 - 30% off the CDs. Bubble with 2.5 minute CD and divine protection with 30 seconds is stupid. Can't let it go through or you'll have so much complains on these forums.
The reason that this change is occurring is because we felt that Unbreakable Spirit was weak compared to its counterparts. We’ll be keeping a close eye on it, so be sure to test it out on the PTR when it becomes available.

Now that we have a blue in here, whats the idea of making destru, one of the only speccs that has to cast to do damage, lose the only way to get it off? When you were versing 2 melees or hunter - melee as it is, getting casts off wasnt something easy to do, and now with nerfed mobility, how are you ever going to get a chaos bolt off to contribute to a kill?
The reason for this change is that Kil'Jaeden's Cunning just felt too good and over 99% of Affliction Warlocks were taking it. We weren't happy with the snare effect, but when it had a cast time debuff instead, no one used it. Changing it to just be a snare effect ended up making the talent too good. We have a long PTR cycle ahead, there is plenty of time to tinker with it, and Warlocks will be balanced around this.

It’s worth noting that the new Kil'Jaeden's Cunning is off of the global cooldown and can be cast while another spell cast is already in progress. For the Affliction Warlocks worried about this change; one recent change on the 5.4 PTR is that Haunt is now castable while moving.

why rather not worry about the fact that 80% of the arena team above a certain rating are hunter-oriented? And there are changes coming for Hunters as well as the recent hotfixes that stopped pets summoned by Stampede using abilities and giving Blink Strikes a 20 second cooldown. Don't forget also:

We have a long PTR cycle ahead, there is plenty of time to tinker with it
There will be more changes to come, so keep your eyes on the patch notes blog and test out the changes when the 5.4 PTR comes around. Don't take all of these changes as the final ones, there are more to come and those that we have made can change as well. As Ghostcrawler said; "The PTR is our Petri dish and not every experiment works". (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Posts

Tier Set Pieces
We currently do not have any plans to remove tier sets from LFR. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Stromgarde Scenario
Just to avoid any further confusion, there is no Stromgarde scenario in patch 5.4, and what you’ve seen datamined is little more than a developer experiment with a stand-in name.

This happens quite often; developers will put something quick together to test out some new tech or functionality, and the remnants occasionally slip through to the PTR files where dataminers can get ahold of them.

So, just to be clear, there is currently nothing related to Stromgarde in production. That’s not to say it’s a location we’ll never revisit, but should that happen, it will not be in 5.4, and the recently datamined files will not be part of it. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Golden Lotus Daily Quests
The world does and will change from time to time and this change is no exception. You'll still have a variety of ways to get Golden Lotus rep, but yeah things won't be the same in the Vale. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Legendary Quest Catch-up
There is no way for the gap to ever be closed as by the time they get the gem - patch 5.4 is out.
By the time they get cloak(which they will have to do old LFR for) everyone will get what i assume is an op weapon and the content will prolly be complete...

When Patch 5.4 is released, the legendary quest items from 5.0/5.1 will drop in Throne of Thunders for players that are on that step of the questline. The developers don't see much value in keeping Tier 14 relevant once Tier 16 is available.

However, in 5.4, if you decide to run Tier 14 raids for those items, you will see a dramatically increased drop chance. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Flexible Raid System Clarifications
Will the lockout be similar to LFR where you can run it again (with only 1 chance per week for loot) or will it be like normal, where you can only kill a boss once per week?
Right now, the idea is to have FR lockouts work very similarly to lockouts in LFR.

You will be able to repeat bosses, and that will actually still be somewhat rewarding, you’ll be able to use additional bonus rolls, earn Valor Points, and potentially loot some shinnies from trash...

There’s something unique about FRs though, I’ll explain it with an example:
Let's say you join a 12man and kill the first boss, leave the raid, and join a 20man, you might have to repeat the first boss.

"Might", so how does that work?
If everyone in the new 20man raid has already killed the first boss just like you did, then that boss will not spawn.
But even if only 1 of the players in that 20man has not killed the first boss, he will spawn again and everyone else will have to repeat the encounter. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

What's Cooking In the Hearth?
There were a few Hearthstone updates today, so be sure to check out the full post on Hearthpwn!

• Explore the world of Hearthstone with Quests: Immerse yourself in new, ever-changing quests that you can complete to acquire valuable Gold. New Quests await you every day!
• Gold is Hearthstone’s new currency: Use your hard-earned Gold to purchase more packs of cards to complete your collection. Gold can also be used to gain entry into The Forge!
• Leveling system: Have a favorite class? Level them up to new heights to gain basic and Golden basic cards the more you play. Gain experience for any game you play, win or lose - you’ll gain additional experience for a well-fought victory.
• Battle your friends: Want to challenge your friends to a friendly fireside duel? You can now add them to your friends list and challenge them to a game. Talk about Hearthstone strategy as well with our added friends chat feature!
• Updated card frames: We’ve added some lovely new card frames that make each class more visually distinctive at first (and second!) glance.

[Qanlayeni]

Awesomeness

[Nakatomii]

Hmm what is the black sha doing there? Who is that? I thought the purple one was the new sha... but now theres also a black one...

[chaud]

Hmm what is the black sha doing there? Who is that? I thought the purple one was the new sha... but now theres also a black one...

It is the Amalgam of Corruption in the Norushen encounter.

[Deleted]

Get. Hearth. Off. Front. Page.

[Deleted]

More changes for Hunter you say?

What more can you possibly do to hurt us? :/

[cool_freezer]

That Proto-Drake named Galakras (Zaelas Mount) seems related to Galakrond x_O

[Nibu]

""Might", so how does that work?
If everyone in the new 20man raid has already killed the first boss just like you did, then that boss will not spawn.
But even if only 1 of the players in that 20man has not killed the first boss, he will spawn again and everyone else will have to repeat the encounter."

Wait, what? Will this mean if I kill 3 bosses one night with my group of 13 peeps, then take 14 the next night because Bob showed up again, we'll have to do them again? How can friends/family guilds progress this way? I hope it's just an option to kill them again.

[Amerissis]

"Might", so how does that work?
If everyone in the new 20man raid has already killed the first boss just like you did, then that boss will not spawn.
But even if only 1 of the players in that 20man has not killed the first boss, he will spawn again and everyone else will have to repeat the encounter.

Wait, what? Will this mean if I kill 3 bosses one night with my group of 13 peeps, then take 14 the next night because Bob showed up again, we'll have to do them again? How can friends/family guilds progress this way? I hope it's just an option to kill them again.

They specifically said NEW 20 man. When you enter a new raid with a new ID, you might have to do bosses again. When you add people to your own, already existing, id, you will obviously not reset that raid.

[greyghost]

"Oh noes! Those iLvls are getting higher and higher! Please, do a squish! The numbers are scary big!" - Is what I envisage a fair amount of the comments to be about.

Kinda sad about the mention of there being no Stromgarde scenario in development tbh.

Eh, there's always next expansion. I'm sure they'll come up with one when game plot warrants it (for example, a reunion of the Warcraft I heroes).

And the ilvl concerns are warranted, to be honest. Ever since the end of WotLK the item scaling has been a bit... crazy. It appears like it's some sort of design decision that wound up not being good years down the road that is particularly hard to back out of.... unless it's some sort of strange way to imply that our characters are becoming demigods in order to be strong enough to take on a fallen diety.

Just because it's a difficult problem to resolve doesn't mean it shouldn't be brought up. And especially because of its difficulty, it shouldn't be ignored. It's been touched upon by Ghostcrawler about the possible technical problems regarding server-side calculations if the gear strength trend keeps on the way it has been for 5 years.

That Proto-Drake named Galakras (Zaelas Mount) seems related to Galakrond x_O

Galakrond was a protodrake (and the most powerful one there ever was, being the prognetor/parent of the Aspects), if that was what you were wondering.

[Deleted]

Haunt while moving, just bad, bad, bad...

[Kyuuseishu]

I don't see the problem with the guy moaning about the US change, Ret already uses 50 holy power such that its CD becomes 50% anyway and even then, US is not used in PVP, clemency seems to be the more dominant. This just comes as a buff to holy really where the HP generation is lower.

+ If it was lowered to 20-30% it would see zero use compared to niche use as it does now.

[Draxz]

Hmm what is the black sha doing there? Who is that? I thought the purple one was the new sha... but now theres also a black one...

Probably a place holder sir.

[Kyuuseishu]

Probably a place holder sir.

Its part of the Norushen encounter, the Amalgam of Corruption (the black one that is)

[zaneosak]

Please for the love of god make Flex a shared lockout..... please.... I don't understand why they want people to have to raid yet another difficulty when the tier is new to try to grab trinkets weapons and tier gear that is superior to last tier (536). Flex supposed to be for people that find normal too hard, so make it a shared lockout.

[Kyuuseishu]

Please for the love of god make Flex a shared lockout..... please.... I don't understand why they want people to have to raid yet another difficulty when the tier is new to try to grab trinkets weapons and tier gear that is superior to last tier (536). Flex supposed to be for people that find normal too hard, so make it a shared lockout.

It already has a staggered release compared to normals, if you feel that you NEED to do Flex just to progress through normals at an average rate then that is entirely your choice to do so. If you are a person who progresses through normals at an average rate now, you certainly won't need to do Flex in order to do the same in 5.4

[thebdc]

Look how elaborate the new Garrosh updated model's facial animations for the emotes are. Would they spend any amount of time with them if they'd not actually be used in the game? So that might be a hint that this model will be a (base?) for new player models.

[Deleted]

More changes for Hunter you say?

What more can you possibly do to hurt us? :/

Take away your mobility and stick you right down with Warlocks :P

[ColbaneX]

I'm still not happy with the nerf to KJC. Mostly because of the Change to Mannoroth's Fury too. So now 2/3rd's of our talent choices are 15 sec duration with 90 second cd's, not to mention both felt BETTER as passives. Everyone elses lvl 90 talents that have CD's at least DO something. It's like oh Warlocks now practically have Spiritwalker's Grace, and some...random ass AoE boost if they want it. I really hope they change it so Destro at least can keep it as a passive. Without that talent they are gutted because of long cast times.

[VanishO2]

It already has a staggered release compared to normals, if you feel that you NEED to do Flex just to progress through normals at an average rate then that is entirely your choice to do so. If you are a person who progresses through normals at an average rate now, you certainly won't need to do Flex in order to do the same in 5.4

Not that staggered according to Blizzard... it'll be probably one week later (while LFR will take more time).

As Blizzard love to say to pvp players: "pve isn't that generous". One week (hell, even a month) won't mean you'll be totally decked in new gear, so everything other than the next dificult is 0 upgrade.

---------- Post added 2013-06-14 at 01:35 PM ----------

They specifically said NEW 20 man. When you enter a new raid with a new ID, you might have to do bosses again. When you add people to your own, already existing, id, you will obviously not reset that raid.

I think only you got that way. I get the same idea, one guy that didn't kill, the boss is back for everyone.

It's not about "new 20 man" or different raid size. Since it kinda of clearly shows that if you did the boss with 10 players, later join a "new" raid with 20, but if all those 20 players did the same bosses as you did that week, all 20 players would start on the next one. No respawn of older bosses.