Brewfest 2013, SoO Progression, Sept 19 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, DLC #406 and #407

[chaud]

Travis Day on Paragon 2.0, Blizzard Won the "Top Community Management Team" Award, Glow's Quest for “Paragon 1000”

Hearthstone Leveling Rewards Part 1 - Mage, Paladin, Priest

Brewfest 2013
Brewfest is upon us once again, and Icy-Veins has an in depth guide to all things Brewfest. This year the event runs from September 20 to October 6. This year offers the same items as last year, such as the Pandaren Brewpack and item level 470 epic trinkets.

If you are still leveling alts, don't forget to grab the Brewfest Enthusiast buff at 6:15 AM and 6:15 PM server time outside of Ironforge and Orgrimmar at the Tapping of the Keg ceremony.

Coren Direbrew Drops

Level	Type	Spec	Slot	Name
470	Trinket		Trinket	Bubbliest Brightbrew Charm
470	Trinket		Trinket	Bitterest Balebrew Charm
470	Trinket	Spell DPS	Trinket	Mithril Wristwatch
470	Trinket	Physical DPS	Trinket	Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster
470	Trinket	Tank	Trinket	Brawler's Statue
470	Trinket	Healer	Trinket	Thousand-Year Pickled Egg

Brewfest Prize Token Rewards

Level	Type	Slot	Name	Cost
20	Companion Pets		Wolpertinger's Tankard	200 ×
20	Companion Pets		Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm	100 ×
20	Holiday		Preserved Brewfest Hops	20 ×
1	Quest		"Brew of the Month" Club Membership Form	200 ×
10	Head	Head	Belbi's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles	100 ×
10	Head	Head	Blix's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles	100 ×
1	Head	Head	Brown Brewfest Hat	50 ×
1	Head	Head	Green Brewfest Hat	50 ×
1	Head	Head	Blue Brewfest Hat	50 ×
1	Head	Head	Purple Brewfest Hat	50 ×
1	Chest	Chest	Brewfest Regalia	200 ×
1	Chest	Chest	Brewfest Dress	200 ×
1	Feet	Feet	Brewfest Boots	100 ×
1	Feet	Feet	Brewfest Slippers	100 ×
1	Consumable		Pandaren Brewpack	100 ×
1	Consumable		Brewfest Pony Keg	100 ×
1	Consumable		Brewfest Keg Pony	200 ×
20	Consumable		Fresh Brewfest Hops	2 ×
20	Consumable		Fresh Goblin Brewfest Hops	5 ×
1	Consumable		Brewhelm	2 ×

Siege of Orgrimmar Heroic Progression
Method is still leading progress tonight without killing any more bosses, with 11/14 bosses down. Blood Legion has managed to kill one more boss since last night, now with 11/14 bosses down, along with Exorsus, genuine, and Envy. Over in the 10 player column, Paragon is currently leading with 10/14 bosses down, followed by Sanitas, also at 10/14.

You can keep up with the rankings on WoWProgress and Manaflask.

Patch 5.4 Hotfixes: September 19

General

• With the conclusion of the Battlefield: Barrens event, realm coalescing has been re-enabled for the Durotar area.

Classes

• Hunters
  
  • General
    
    • Deterrence should now correctly have a 5-second cooldown after using a charge for Hunters with the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera talent.
      
• Monks
  
  • Talents
    
    • Xuen summoned by Invoke Xuen, the White Tiger should now be able to use Crackling Tiger Lightning against Aberration type creatures.
      

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

• Siege of Orgrimmar
  
  • Sha of Pride
    
    • Sha of Pride no longer drops Droplet of Y'shaarj on Raid Finder difficulty.
      
    • Alter Time no longer teleports players that have been banished on Heroic difficulty.
      
  • Galakras
    
    • Resetting the Galakras encounter should no longer cause doors to the towers to remain closed.
      
  • Siegecrafter Blackfuse
    
    • Siegecrafter Blackfuse will no longer Overcharge more than one cluster of Crawler Mines per wave on Heroic difficulty.
      

Battlegrounds and Arenas

• The Crowd Chose You!!! should now be correctly applied to players that are under the effects of Cyclone.

Proving Grounds

• Healer Trials
  
  • NPC party members should now be better at moving out of the fire, and use their area-of-effect attacks and swap targets correctly.
    
  • Large Illusionary Flamecallers no longer cast Pyroblast against targets that have been recently hit by a Fireball.
    

Blue Posts

Conquest Vendors Update
Giving a quick update. We're in the process of running internal tests to see if the fix is working correctly. We hope to have it out of testing as soon as possible. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Gearing up Alt Characters
I dinged a fresh 90 on Monday, and yes I went straight to the Timeless Isle. However, in questing greens & blues, I had a very hard time. Also, I still have to go through all the old raids in LFR to unlock the latest content, not to mention get my item level high enough to enter.

I've picked up a few purples on the Timeless Isle, but I'm still nowhere near high enough yet to enter SoO LFR. Sure, if you go for it really hard and prepare with crafted goods, Valor gear etc. I'm sure it can be done. But that's why the system's good IMO, if you put in the effort you can be caught up quickly, if you're more of a casual player like me it's going to take a while, and I'm fine with that personally.

I much prefer this to the alternative—getting my alt to level 90 then having to go through the exact same content I spent months on with my other characters. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Patch 5.4 PvP Balance
Hope 6.0 will be that one patch we've been waiting since s8 to finally fix everything.
It's impossible to "fix" everything because there will always be a certain aspect of the game that someone will have an issue with, or a part they don't enjoy as much as the other. Perfection is also an endless pursuit because it's an ever elusive goal. We're constantly aiming to make the game the best it possibly can be, but to fix what someone feels is wrong will inevitably break it for someone else, so the things that are "broken" change via your own perception.

- blizzard doesn't care about all mage specs in PvP
Every spec in the game right now is viable for participation in PvP, and we care about all specs. Your complaint is not that "Blizzard doesn't care", it's that you don't feel that certain specs aren't entirely viable for high end arena. This goes for several classes though, not just mages; warrior, paladin, druid and monk tank specs and others are not viable for high end PvP either.

The biggest thing to note is that there are actually more specs now than ever before that are viable for a "Tier 1/2 comp", and at least one spec from each class is capable of reaching high ratings in PvP depending on team composition. We would be extremely pleased if we were able to reach a point in balance where all 34 specs were perfectly balanced, however we're well aware that the possibilities of accomplishing this is an incredibly difficult goal.

We'll continue to do our best to achieve the most enjoyable and balanced gameplay possible for everyone and we really appreciate all of the feedback that you're all giving in this thread about what you do and don't like about patch 5.4. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Classes
Honestly how many classes "get benched" I haven't seen a dps class get benched even one time this xpak
It is one of those terms that lost its meaning (like "literally!") through overuse. I think many now used "benched" as a synonym. (Source)

Could I get your thoughts on this concept? Are healers an intrinsic problem in PvP games generally?
They are definitely a problem when trying to balance the option to have a healer or not have a healer. (Source)
I'm also open to the idea that having dedicated healers in PvP period is unsolveable. #notanannouncement (Source)

is it acceptable for one class (warriors) to not have a single dps spec in the top 20 dps specs? Why is this the case, then?
Don't worry about stack ranks. Worry about your spec's (or better yet, your character's) DPS relative to the average. (Source)

so what are people who love their character supposed to do when they no longer enjoy their class?
We struggle with that question, at a philosophical level, a great deal. (Source)
The con is the player (and there are many) who can't keep up with class changes if they skip an expansion or even a patch. (Source)
We hear *constantly* from players who say I love my X but I just can't bear to relearn how to play yet again, so I'm out. (Source)

I think a good rule of thumb is, if you enjoy your class, eff the numbers.
I get that there is a threshold. If you love your class but feel like you are holding your friends back, that's hard. (Source)
But just because the best players in the world do better with class X, does not mean *you* are holding your friends back. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
OK you're probably sick of hearing this, but feels like my ProtWar has exactly zero choice in Major glyph. DPS = mandatory. =/
Yeah we discussed this a few weeks ago. We can't make tank glyphs survival, healing or DPS. Doesn't leave many options. (Source)

Character / Items
We have a request with many people on french forum : why gnome can't do hunter when all race can? We are curious
We get many requests to make X class available to Y race. (Source)
At a fundamental level, the question is whether there is benefit in any racial restrictions on class or not. (Source)

Hi Greg. IF the item squish was to happen, would PvP and PvE gear once again have similar ilvls? WPvP purposes. Ty.
We don't know yet, but that would be a nice goal for sure. (Source)

Just out of curiosity, how does RPPM differ from old style trinkets if unaffected by haste? That seemed the point
RPPM can proc twice in a row. Old style trinkets tended to proc when their ICD was over, making them really predictable. (Source)
But Because of the RNG involved, who would want to use an RPPM trink over ICD if both technically Equal?
There is personal preference involved for sure, which we actually like. (Source)
The RPPM trinket could proc 3 times during Bloodlust while the ICD cannot. But the RPPM might not proc at all. (Source)

Flex Raiding
After downing a boss in a flex raid, is a raid guaranteed at least X items or are all rolls individual (poss. getting 0 loot)?
You can get 0 loot or you can get 25 loot. Both are exceedingly rare, but given enough raids, will happen to someone. (Source)

Flex definitely feels like a progression difficulty coming straight out of LFR. My mana was crying!
Remember that you don't have the benefit of previous tiers of flex to gear up. This should be the only time that happens. (Source)

Might we see LFR phased out in favor of Flex? If opening end-game content to all is the goal, perhaps dif way to achieve it?
If you want to raid say on your lunch break, LFR works for that but flex may not. (Source)

Dark Legacy Comics - #406 and #407
Now that things have slowed down a little bit, let's catch up on some DLC!

[moveth]

Editing this because they completely ruined the queueing for this just like they did with Frost Lord. No one besides low level people are going to queue for a boss that drops 470 trinkets. Timeless Isle drops 496 and you can purchase 535 trinkets. There is no incentive other than mounts to queue for this. And even then it's queue once per day and then leave.

[Kargarok]

Those trinkets are useless :/

[Aranc]

470? even tough timeless offers 496 or even 535?

[Nerraw]

Kerbal Space Program comic!

[MikeBogina]

those are the same trinkets a year ago when MoP first launched, dont complain... they get one update per expansion.

[Decisive The Hallowed]

those are the same trinkets a year ago when MoP first launched, dont complain... they get one update per expansion.

Yeah, but its a little stupid when we can get 496 Trinkets from Timeless Isle so easly...

[Findus707]

Still no info about the dagger or BoE mace from Brewfest, Last year they didn't get the upgrade as MoP just launched, this year most ppl already got better weapons on their mains, so they should be upgraded by now.

[chaud]

Still no info about the dagger or BoE mace from Brewfest, Last year they didn't get the upgrade as MoP just launched, this year most ppl already got better weapons on their mains, so they should be upgraded by now.

I wouldn't get your hopes up.

[whiplashmtb]

I dinged a fresh Level 90 Hunter alt on Monday as well. But I just mailed all of the 496 mail tokens that my DK main picked up on the island. The Others I was able to farm up for myself. That was able to get me into some LFR's, a few lucky drops and I'm at 496. So in less than 12 hours of In-game time at 90, my I-Level is high enough to enter SoO LFR. But if you notice my gear, the majority of it is from the Island. us.battle.net/wow/en/character/azjolnerub/Valduar/simple

I'm going to try to get my hands on a new Ranged weapon since I'm still rocking the 450 engineering gun. (Plus of course gemming/enchanting all that gear).

But still, It's entirely too easy to gear up alts with this "Catch up" mechanism. (even easier than the ICC/DS 5-mans) Tap a rare mob and epics fall out. It's ridiculous.

- - - Updated - - -

On a Side note, I leveled from 86 to 90 doing nothing but pet battles because of the ridiculous requirement to have 15 max level pets to participate in the celestial tournament. I'm glad there's at least something difficult about the island. (Well that and the grind for the Emperor).

(from levels 86-90, you get approximately 1% of a level per pet battle against level 23-25 opponents, and it takes about 40 battles to get a pet to max level).

[Amithyst]

D: Aww no fair taking the pet drop out of lfr

[alexday14]

another event that remains unchanged from the year before, offering no real reason for us to play with it

[Balir]

Dlc 407 lawl!!!!!!

[Hetamax]

Yeah, ilvl 470 trikets are joke!

[Deleted]

Go Sanitas!
Show what Frostwhisper can do!

[Treno]

So while the Horde Rebellion is invading Org, Vol'jin's gonna be tapping the keg. Lovely.

[Drakainen]

Mmm, They should have at least upped them to 496 to match the island stuff.

[Deleted]

D: Aww no fair taking the pet drop out of lfr

LFR has its own pet from Sha of Pride, that doesn't drop on Normal/Heroic, Droplet was supposed to be the "better version"...

[ItachiZaku]

I guess if you want more specific trinkets and these are they, you have something to start with at 90. It's not all bad.

[Serissa]

Same stein for 3rd year in a row? wtf blizz? /rage