WoD - All Mounts Work as Ground Mounts, Launcher Feedback, Blue Tweets, TCG Art

[chaud]

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Warlords of Draenor - All Mounts Work as Ground Mounts
Almost all mounts will work as ground mounts in Warlords of Draenor!

Warlords of Draenor Flying

I've already said that what we said at BlizzCon still holds true at current. If ongoing development changes this including testing, feedback, and etc, then we'll keep people informed. We are in the midst of development and as with anytime we get into it, we often will change design ideas or implementations from what we originally thought we wanted to do to what we believe will more likely work better. We will continue to discuss our ideas as openly as possible (as Alex did) and keep an eye out on constructive feedback. We will do our utmost to address as many concerns that people may have as possible while still keeping in mind the overall health and objectives we have for the game.

We don't work in stone and design is a very fluid thing. We're going to keep moving forward toward creating fun experiences for as many people as possible. I said this over on Twitter and I'll say it again here- "Sometimes I feel I need to say this, but game design decisions are not personal. They aren't meant to cause personal distress. We do care." We want to make sure that Warlords of Draenor (and the game as a whole) continues to deliver truly great experiences and plenty of fun.

Battle.Net Launcher Feedback

The fact that YOU think I need MY desktop 'cleaned up' or I can't keep it organized is pretty damned infuriating and condescending, quite frankly.
I don't personally care what your desktop looks like or how many icons you have on it, or if you're able or not able to keep track of them; but icons on your desktop has little-to-nothing to do with offering a unified launcher platform. You can have the Battle.net app create a desktop icon for each game still, if that's what you want to click on.

Right now each of our games is started through a launcher. The launchers help ensure games are up to date, offer functionality to launch other versions (beta/PTR/etc.), has some file management tools (repair), provide quick links to helpful resources (support), and helps bring info front and center when starting a game like patch notes, game info, news, etc.

Instead of having separate launchers for each game, which are individually updated and maintained, and each of which also likely having different requirements and specifics for how it works and operates, it makes a lot of sense for us to have a single platform (e.g. launcher) that brings all the games together under a single roof, streamlines our platforms, and provides a single launcher--instead of many of them--to provide the same features those launchers always have, plus more, and additional flexibility to add features into the future.

If you're launching Blizzard games now, it's quite likely you're seeing a launcher, and that's not really any different than seeing the Battle.net desktop app "launcher".

What the heck ever happened to just double clicking the executable and running the game. That doesn't need "improving."
Online games, like World of Warcraft, usually require that everyone playing use the same files and file versions to ensure content parity. If you and I are playing and the information we each hold about the game differs, it becomes exceedingly difficult for the server to reconcile how those differences play out and also how the client perceives those differences. Everyone needs to be playing the same game, essentially. To help try to make that process smoother, a launcher that starts up before the game checks file versions when starting the game. If your files are not current a patch is downloaded and installed. Additionally, we've added functionality for the launcher to download future patch data ahead of time to reduce the time required on patch day to get into the game, as well as the ability to stream game data so that the entire game doesn't need to be downloaded for new players, or those just reinstalling.

World of Warcraft has had a launcher for the purposes of file version verification since at least 2003. The Battle.net desktop app is, for the purposes of this discussion, an updated launcher.

However: I recommend Blizzard create a list of offline games to play specifically during patch downloads.
If you used the launcher you'd have downloaded the patch data well in advance, and wouldn't need to wait.

Just don't make the battle.net app mandatory in the future. I like double clicking the WoW icon from my desktop to launch WoW. Kthxbai.
You can still do that with the Battle.net app. Cya.

Blue Tweets

PvP
is tyrannical gear, for those who like it as x-mog, never to be obtainable again? strange: all other MoP pvp gear is available
It will become available again on a vendor in a future patch. (holinka)

Why the change to feats for PVP titles? Are they going to be permanent now or something?
We've made technical changes to how we deliver rewards and we added a Feat of Strength. Titles are still temporary. (holinka)
IE feats stay, but after a season you lose the title it grants.
Yes you keep the achievement but lose the title. (holinka)
Are the feats permanent, though? Do they stay as 'proof' of your accomplishment for the season? Or gone in S16.
You will always have the achievement that says "Season 14" (holinka)

season 15? .............15.......I've been playing this game for too long.
Yeah, we have been talking about that. The numbers are getting high enough that players are often confused about what season it is. (holinka)

So if we're getting 3 new world bosses, which are dropping the PvP gear?
We're still sorting that out. A lot of things are going to be different. (holinka)
Also keep in mind there were multiple world bosses at MoP launch as well. (holinka)
Should be a chest in a FFA zone somewhere with PvP item in it with a long respawn time.(wtbgurubashi)
Agree it would be fun to so more of this sort of thing (holinka)
By "FFA" you mean "come with the most friends so you can solo loot the chest," right?
World PvP, it can be pretty mean. (holinka)

any plans for fixing Wintergrasp and Tol Barad for Warlords?
Not at this point. The best thing to do would be convert them to battlegrounds, but it requires significant work. (holinka)

Future
What happened to expanding the Darkmoon Faire? All those unused tents depress me....
Me too. (Dave_Maldo)
Any plans?
Yes. But my purple octopus monster hat-dropping world boss didn't make it in yet, either, so who knows when. (Dave_Maldo)

So tabards... Are they likely to get a tab? If not, can Scarlet Tabard be added to the vendor for my other toons?
Maybe! And I believe the vendor only covers achievement/perma-lost tabards, not bought or mob-dropped (Heroic Harlan has it). (Dave_Maldo)

PvP Tournament This Weekend
PvP Live is holding a tournament this weekend, starting at 2PM EST / 11 AM PST on Saturday and 12:30 PM EST / 9:30 AM PST on Sunday. Eight teams are competing in a double elimination tournament casted by Azael and Vhell. You can watch the games on Twitch.

TCG Art Update
Blizzard has updated the TCG art gallery to feature ten new pieces.

[missamy]

All Mounts Work as Ground Mounts

Well that is just a stupid idea!
Ashes of al'ar has no legs!!

[Enan1981]

Eh, im just waiting to see how this expansion will pan out.

[Deleted]

Good move Blizz, now we don't have to listen to all the whining about people not being able to ride their precious little sky mounts as they work on the land. You know, where the game actually is..

[Deleted]

Soooooo phoenix mounts suddenly will sprout legs?

/logic

[TrollShaman]

I like the change, without care whether flying is disabled on release or not. I dont have to use a mechano hog when i want to run around places like Timeless Isle on my Azure Drake or Cloud Serpent

[Nuvuk]

Wow Bashiok seems kinda hostile with the Battle.net app replies. I get that he has to deal with a bunch of idiots all day but who pissed him off?

[Nothos]

"All Mounts Work as Ground Mounts"

Well there goes 75% of the argument against No flying in WOD. Hopefully the endless amount of bitching ceases.

[Nathanyel]

All mounts already do work as ground mounts in zones where you can mount them. Sure, some don't touch the ground while "walking", but it's not like we didn't already have such hybrid mounts before: the Lorewalker disk/Tailoring carpets, Engineering flying machines (which only have "landing" as a /mountspecial), the Heart of the Aspects, the different types of rockets...
It's just a matter of enabling you to mount them everywhere (where you can mount at all)
And some of the current "ground mounts" were quite large, too, so that's not a reason against enabling all mounts either.

Well there goes 75% of the argument against No flying in WOD. Hopefully the endless amount of bitching ceases.

There are more (and more valid) arguments against "No flying even at 100".

[greyghost]

There are people angry over application launchers and shortcuts? Really?

How have they managed to contain their rage since 1997?

Wow Bashiok seems kinda hostile with the Battle.net app replies. I get that he has to deal with a bunch of idiots all day but who pissed him off?

Considering the fact that they're complaining about something that has been a routine computing experience for well over 15 years, I can't blame him. These people must've crawled out of a cave after going into hiding when DOS started phasing out or something.

Soooooo phoenix mounts suddenly will sprout legs?

/logic

Hey, you're into logic, right? Do something for me.

Get on your phoenix mount in-game. Right now. Then, shoot down to the ground on it. While grounded, move around a bit.

If you did the experiment correctly, you'll see that your Phoenix hovers above the ground at 100% mount speed. It has always been able to do this, as do the vast majority of other flying mounts. Right now, there are only a few easily toggle-able code flags that prevent some flying mounts from being initially summoned in a non-flying area.

[Zstr]

those huge flying mounts models covering mailboxes,lootable corpeses etc...

[Backstabber]

I don't think the Cloud Serpents have a ground mount ability, but still, I don't think logic factors in to a Phoenix mount on the ground when we have floating disks and Magic Carpets and no ones bats an eye. And I'm sorry, but the complaining about the Battle.net launcher is just proof that people on the internet, gamers in particular, will scream and stop their feet about ANYTHING. I personally love the consolidated launcher considering I play all four of Blizzards big games.

[Nathanyel]

those huge flying mounts models covering mailboxes,lootable corpeses etc...

Interact with target keybind gets you past players atop NPCs.
Sincerely, 2010.

[Collected]

I don't blame him forgetting angry. The way people respond to any change these days if wow was in beta today it would probably never be a success because people would be butt hurt about the slightest thing. The launcher is great, I'm not sure how anyone could hate it.

[MrExcelion]

I suppose it'll be the mounts doing their flying animation but just on the ground. Will look weird though.

[Nathanyel]

Considering the fact that they're complaining about something that has been a routine computing experience for well over 15 years, I can't blame him. These people must've crawled out of a cave after going into hiding when DOS started phasing out or something.

It's also still possible to just launch the WoW.exe and skip the Launcher, both old or new, unless of course there is an update available, in which case it will take you to the Launcher anyway, because, as Bashiok mentioned, you can only play with the most current version of the game. Everything else makes no sense. Even if you never purchased an expansion (which means you now have up to Cata anyway) you still play with game version 5.4.7

[Cronnix]

Soooooo phoenix mounts suddenly will sprout legs?

/logic

As with many other flying mounts, like the rocket, it will probably just hover as low as possible.

[Eruanne]

Are you kidding me right now? Have you never ridden a flying mount on a lowbie? They just fly at 100% close to the ground. Honestly. And stop complaining about the launcher. It's great but nobody is holding a gun to your head to use it. You people will bitch about ANYTHING.

[Pull My Finger]

I have separate ground and air mount lists in my random mount add-on, for the EXACT reason that it looks stupid and cumbersome as hell to run around as a Sandstone Drake or chug away on my Flying Machine in no-fly zones. I don't want to use my flying mounts on ground, I want to fly on them. So, I guess while it was well-meant by Blizzard to attempt to give the people a shallow feeling of not having collected (or bought!) all those flying mounts for nothing, the tweak is pointless and doesn't change anything about the fact that the whole no-flying idea is still complete nonsense.

[Eruanne]

Then don't use your flyers. And it's nonsense how exactly? They do this literally EVERY. SINGLE. EXPANSION. You can't fly in the beginning and then when you reach a certain level or unlock something you can. I highly doubt this will be any different and I don't understand how after almost a decade people still act like this is brand new information.