Timeless Isle Chests, Epic Gems, Aug 6 Raid Testing, Blue Posts, Burdens of Shaohao

[chaud]

D3 Console Test Invite, Blue Posts, Solution to Inventory Screen on Local Co-op

Stormwind Gameboard Audio, Blue Posts

Patch 5.4 - Timeless Isle Chests
Last week, we talked about the new BoA ilvl 496 tokens on the Timeless Isle and the ability to upgrade them to 535s with a Burden of Eternity. Today, we look at the biggest source of these items on the Timeless Isle: chests.

While the Timeless Isle hosts many different rare mobs and events, by far the fastest way for a character new to the Timeless Isle to get epics is through finding these chests. The catch is that almost all of the chests can only be found and looted once per character and you have to compete with other players for respawns (though they're short).

There are several major types of chests on the island, so here is a list which also serves as a legend for the map below. Keep in mind that contents and locations can change before these go live.

• Tier 1 (1): These are on the western half of the Timeless Isle and have the name "Moss-Covered Chest". They contain a very small amount of Timeless Coins and can sometimes contain an epic token.
• Tier 2 (2): These are on the eastern half of the Timeless Isle and have the name "Moss-Covered Chest". They contain a few hundred Timeless Coins and can sometimes contain an epic token.
• Tier 3 (3): These chests are located in hard to reach places and have many different names. The western two of them are on top of cliffs and are accessible by using a Highwind Albatross. Another two are in caves, and the final one is an area densely populated by Gulp Frogs. These chests all contain a few hundred Timeless Coins and multiple epic tokens.
• Tier 4 (4): These chests are located in the middle of groups of Ordos yaungol and have the name "Smouldering Chest". They contain several hundred Timeless Coins and multiple epic tokens.
• Tier 5 (5): This 'ultimate' chest, the Blazing Chest, is located in the western part of the Ordos Sanctuary and can be tricky to reach due to the large amount of high-level elites in the area. The chest contains a medium amount of Timeless Coins, a few epic tokens, and a guaranteed Burden of Eternity.
• Daily (D): As the name implies, these chests can be looted once per day, unlike the majority of the island's chests. All of them are in places that require effort (and even some platforming skills) to reach. Additionally, they all drop Lesser Charms of Good Fortune in addition to a medium amount of Timeless Coins and a possible epic token.
• Weekly (W): As the name implies, these chests can be looted once per week, unlike the majority of the island's chests. Both of these chests are underwater and require a bit of fighting to reach - one even requires a key from the mobs around it. Additionally, they both drop (~5-15)Lesser Charms of Good Fortune in addition to a medium amount of Timeless Coins and a possible epic token. The southern-most Weekly chest also will contain a Cursed Swabby Helmet the first time you open it.

In addition to lots of loot, these chests are now linked to achievements as well. Finding all of the 'one-time' chests (Tier 1-5 in the list above) will net you the achievement Treasure, Treasure Everywhere. If you loot both Weekly chests and the eastern-most Daily chest (all three are pirate-themed), you will receive the achievement Where There's Pirates, There's Booty, and you can receive the achievement Extreme Treasure Hunter for getting the other three Daily chests.

Patch 5.4 - No Epic Gems
It seems we won't get epic gems during Patch 5.4.

Raid Testing Schedule - August 6

On Tuesday, August 6, we will continue testing raid encounters in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid. We're moving on to 10-player Heroic testing at this time, and then 25-player mode as the PTR cycle progresses.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms.

Tuesday, August 6
Thok the Bloodthirsty - 10 Player Heroic - 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)
Iron Juggernaut - 10 Player Heroic - 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, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, 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

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Hunter Spec Identity
Long-term (ie: not for 5.4), we will be making some bigger changes to the Hunter class. It may not be a full class revamp (like the Warlock revamp in 5.0), but we do want to give the class a full once-over and make sure that the specs feel different and unique. We are not planning any further, class-wide mechanical changes for 5.4.

We have not yet balanced DPS for Hunters (or anyone) for 5.4. When we do, we'll make sure that as much of that balancing as possible is done via signature shots.

Before you get excited, note the wording "as much of that balancing as possible."
By that, I meant that signature shots are going to be the primary target for any buffs to bring Hunter damage up, but there's only so much we could buff them depending on how much actually needs to be done. We wouldn't, say, allow Explosive Shot to tick for 500k just to bring Survival PvE DPS up. Instead, we'd bring up Explosive Shot as much as we comfortably could, and then make minor tweaks elsewhere if further balancing was necessary.

Marksmanship has been a spec without a niche this entire expansion which is why it hasn't been played.
Apologies for picking out one part of your post, but I think this illustrates pretty well the exact issue we'd like to fix post-5.4. We'd like to make sure that all three specs have a bit more "identity."

Blue Tweets

Misc
MMOC forums let me keep my job again. Whew. (Source)

Also still trying to figure out which RPGS hold RNG as a time honored tradition. Especially as far as player prog is concerned
Any game with a crit chance or a range on damage (e.g. 7-13) inserts RNG into determining the outcome of a fight. (Source)

Not blaming you personally but why does there seem a lame excuse every Q call when Sub losses are announced.
I think the intent is to provide context, not an excuse. (Source)

I just wonna say, that we're sick of this argument due to double standarts.
Okay. That doesn't make it go away. There are only 8-10 working hours in a day. (Source)
We appreciate feedback on features you like, but we don't want to leave it to the community to decide how we spend our time. (Source)
(The community would never agree anyway.) (Source)
Don't use "we have no time" argument then, tell the truth - "we don't want to do it".
We say we don't want to do something when that is so. Other times we are just stacking high vs. low priorities. (Source)
We usually do get around to the low priorities eventually. (Source)

Patch 5.4 - Vengeance Diminishing Returns
Keep in mind that this is a translated post, so details can be lost. Thanks to ngacnlcq for the translation.

Brief summary: You will get 1/N of the full Vengeance when hit by the mob within 5 seconds who has the Nth highest DPS. This "N" will be recalculated each time you are hit.

For example, you are tanking 3 mobs: one is the Boss and the other two are mobs. The Boss has 1.5 million DPS, one mob has 400K and the other has 300K. The system will now sort these mobs by their DPS:

• 1. Boss: 1.5 million DPS, so you will get 1/1 (100%) of the full Vengeance.
• 2. The first mob: 400K DPS, so you will get 1/2 (50%) of the full Vengeance.
• 3. The second mob: 300K DPS, so you will get 1/3 (33.33%) of the full Vengeance.

This mechanism will be recalculated when you are hit by even more mobs within 5 seconds(1/4, 1/5, 1/6,etc). Additionally, in the example above, if the first mob is not attacking you while the second mob is, you will get 1/2 of the full Vengeance by this attack instead of 1/3.

WoWDB Addon Data Collection
Collection data on things like Timeless Isle drops and locations is done with the help of many players. The more people that contribute data, the more accurate and quickly we can update the database.

To help out, just click here if you have Curse Client already installed.

When you are playing the addon will gather data and save it. When you are done playing, Curse Client will see the game close and upload the collected data from the addon. You can see the last time data was uploaded by looking in the Plugins tab of the options, as well as making sure the addon is enabled there. Be sure you have Curse Client open before you close WoW so that the data will upload!

The Burdens of Shaohao
If you can't get enough of Lorewalker Cho's storytelling, this should be a fun week! Blizzard is releasing a six part series that looks at Emperor Shaohao as he progresses toward discovering the truth about his future.

[MikeBogina]

probably best for epic gems to not be in, gives blacksmiths a slight gain over others i believe

[Deleted]

Lemme guess...the chests have a great big "NINJA ME" sign draped over them can't be opened in combat, right? (like the ones on Isle of Thunder)

[luciano]

Oh great -- another incredibly rare, powerful resource to share across a very, very small and populated place with hundreds and hundreds of people.

Sometimes the things this team comes up with are brilliant and other times I wonder if they've ever even bothered to play this game. Bollocks.

[Imhullu]

Really like the burdens of Shaohao, amazingly done.

[Puffinstein]

Love the Shaohao videos, can't wait for more. Also, wish they'd just overhaul hunters like they did Warlocks honestly. I feel like the three specs are much too much the same with no real change in play style.

[chaud]

Lemme guess...the chests have a great big "NINJA ME" sign draped over them can't be opened in combat, right? (like the ones on Isle of Thunder)

They can be opened in combat.

[Deleted]

The Story of Shaohao is something I really taken a liking to. Especially the Art fits perfectly.
But is it just me or does his face in Part One: Doubt differ from his face in Vision in the area around the eyes?

[Deleted]

5.4 patch's best feature = ingame store

You are on the wrong way kidos!

and no epic gems in MoP? what a nice work... maybe we can buy from the store!

[Deleted]

The hunter changes sounds cool, eventhough it's not going to be anytime soon. Sounds like next expansion. But something to look forward to for sure!

Hopefully, the damage tweaks in 5.4 will bring the 3 specs closer together so a spec like MM is viable (fingers crossed).

[Baphomette]

probably best for epic gems to not be in, gives blacksmiths a slight gain over others i believe

They let BS be a little ahead in Cata, but in Wrath they tweaked all the profession perks to be in line with Blacksmithing's new value (ie +400 primary stats instead of +320).

Agree that we're better off without them. I think they just decided epic gems are an unnecessary hassle. Wouldn't be surprised if we never see them again, at least in the previous final-tier incarnation.

[Deathpath]

I really like the burdens of shaohao, it was nicely done. i can't wait for the next one!

[accosk8]

Oh great -- another incredibly rare, powerful resource to share across a very, very small and populated place with hundreds and hundreds of people.

Sometimes the things this team comes up with are brilliant and other times I wonder if they've ever even bothered to play this game. Bollocks.

Basically rewarding whoever plays outside of prime time hours (19 to 24)... I foresee that I won't be able to get any interesting piece of loot from this isle..

[ZeroWashu]

Wish Blizzard would accept the fact that some classes are not good matches for more than a pair of specs. Hunters, Priests, Rogues, and Warriors, all feel as if they have a near duplicate spec. Pure classes need to treated as such instead of bending over backwards to implement some type of uniqueness between specs.

[Deleted]

Why do people not read the post before saying something? It's one loot per character and fast respawn.

[Yunru]

Why do people not read the post before saying something? It's one loot per character and fast respawn.

Fast respawn: 4 hours (probaly)

I already see ppl camping chest 5 24/7 (mostly hard core ones)

[Cinnamohn]

Goodbye tanking. Was fun while it lasted..

[Archimand]

Basically rewarding whoever plays outside of prime time hours (19 to 24)... I foresee that I won't be able to get any interesting piece of loot from this isle..

that is false i got around same amount of loot from rares/events that i got from chests

pretty much every rare drop epic and some events reward epics
also you can buy a random armor piece for 7500 timeless coins which you get in like 30-1 hour

[psycon]

So they are letting people gear up by looting chest nowadays... GG

[smokii]

yay... getting those chests is gonna be great fun now that the map of where every single one spawns is on the front page of mmo-champ before the patch lands.

happy camping

or rather, happy time doing something else until everyone else who reads mmo-champ has got their achievements and fucked off elsewhere.