Patch 6.1.2 PTR - Build 19769, Blue Posts, Py Wilson, Blue Tweets, Fan Art

[chaud]

Instant Rift Closure, Season 3 Exclusive Items, Set Bonuses Mix and Match, Whirldwind Barb Testing

Ben Brode on Blackrock Mountain, Deck Spotlight: Lykan's Ramp Druid, IEM Katowice This Weekend - March 15th

BlizzCon 2015 Announced - Nov 6th and 7th

Patch 6.1.2 PTR - Build 19769
Build 19769 was deployed to the PTR realms.

New Icons

Spell Changes

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)

• Shred Being stealthed increases damage by 20%, down from 35%.

Hunter (Forums, Talent Calculator)

• Tranquilizing Shot now costs 50 focus, up from 20.

None
Cunning, Ferocious Adaptation, Cunning Adaptation, Tenacious Adaptation

• Cornered When at less than 35% health, your pet does 50% 20% more damage and has a 60% reduced chance to be critically hit. None - Cunning, Ferocious Adaptation, Cunning Adaptation, Tenacious Adaptation Spec.

Strings Changes

• BLIZZARD_STORE_ERROR_MESSAGE_CONSUMABLE_TOKEN_OWNED - All WoW Tokens bought from the auction house must be redeemed before you can buy one from the Shop.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_ERROR_TITLE_CONSUMABLE_TOKEN_OWNED - Shop Error
• BLIZZARD_STORE_TOKEN_DESC_2700_MINUTES - The WoW Token can be sold on the auction house for gold. The auction buyer can then redeem it for 2700 minutes of game time. This Token may not be traded or redeemed; it may only be listed for sale on the Auction House.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_TOKEN_DESC_30_DAYS - The WoW Token can be sold on the auction house for gold. The auction buyer can then redeem it for 30 days of game time. This Token may not be traded or redeemed; it may only be listed for sale on the Auction House.
• CHAR_DELETE_FAILED_HAS_WOW_TOKEN - This character cannot be deleted while a WoW Token is in their inventory, mailbox, or on the auction house.
• SHORTDATE_ABBR - %2$d/%1$d/%3$02d
• SHORTDATE_ABBR_EU - %1$d/%2$d/%3$02d
• TOKEN_AUCTIONABLE_DESCRIPTION_2700_MINUTES - Can be sold for gold on the auction house. The auction buyer can redeem it for 2700 minutes of game time.
• TOKEN_AUCTIONABLE_DESCRIPTION_30_DAYS - Can be sold for gold on the auction house. The auction buyer can redeem it for 30 days of game time.
• TOKEN_AUCTIONABLE_TOKEN_OWNED - All WoW Tokens bought from the Shop must be sold before you can buy one from the auction house.
• TOKEN_BUYOUT_PRICE_UPDATES - This is the current market price of WoW Tokens. It updates periodically.
• TOKEN_CONSUMABLE_DESCRIPTION_2700_MINUTES - Use: Adds 2700 minutes of game time to your World of Warcraft account.
• TOKEN_CONSUMABLE_DESCRIPTION_30_DAYS - Use: Adds 30 days of game time to your World of Warcraft account.
• TOKEN_CREATE_AUCTION_LOCKED_PRICE - This is the current market price of WoW Tokens. This is the exact amount you will receive when your Token sells. You can't change this price.
• TOKEN_TRANSACTION_IN_PROGRESS - Transaction in Progress...
• TOKEN_YOU_WILL_BE_LOGGED_OUT - |cff00ff00You will be logged out of the game when this transaction completes.|r

Blue Posts

CM Community Engagement
("do more with less for bigger dividends" sounds very cynical and has never been an operating procedure for us).

Never is such a strong word to use here. For example, one of the reasons for instituting the WoW token was to curb gold sellers and consequently allow you to reduce or reassign staffing dedicated to account restorations and investigations to other areas once the illicit activity decreases, much like when you released the authenticator you almost certainly did the same as account compromise incidents decreased. To not have done so and have those people standing around would be pretty ridiculous.

I know you're trying to put a good face on things, but the simple fact is that a for profit corporation is constantly trying to find ways to lower costs to increase profit. If they are not, they either go out of business or the CEO is fired by the board of directors and somebody installed who will. It's just simple capitalism.
No, it's not that simple and that's probably why you got down voted several times. You snipped less than 1 full sentence from my post and took it completely out of context to make an argument that I'm just trying to save face.

Of course efficiency is important. Of course we're a for-profit company.

I was referring to the WoW CM team, as the original implication was that our team is specifically targeted as a way to cut corners and save money.

In that context, "do more with less so we can pay a bigger dividend" is a cynical argument for why we -- meaning the community team in particular -- aren't as active on the forums as some would like. I replied to note that it's not true, we've only grown over the years, and our depth of community engagement isn't tied to some corporate financial bottom line. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Community Spotlight - Py Wilson

In this edition of Community Spotlight, we take a moment to chat with Brandi “Py” Wilson—the BlizzCon 2014 Costume Contest winner. Py’s epic cosplay of Grand Empress Shek’zeer was truly a sight to behold—but never made it onto the stage that night. Though only a handful of people were able to see the costume live at BlizzCon 2014, the story of her visionary work and heartbreaking backstage fall was covered by popular game sites such as Polygon and Kotaku.

BlizzCon costume contest participants wait backstage until it’s their turn to walk, and must go up a ramp to make their way onto the stage. When Py’s time to shine onstage came up, a long day and exhaustion took its ill-timed toll, causing her left ankle to give out under the weight of her very heavy costume. With nearly 75 pounds of batteries, wiring, metal piping, and other rigging material attached to or hanging off her—not to mention the short stilts she had to balance on—the fact that Py made it through 90% of the day is remarkable. Sadly, she was unable to go on stage in the full costume, so viewers at home and those in attendance missed getting to see her remarkable creation walk the stage.

Even though it’s been a few months since BlizzCon, we thought it past time to delve into the mind behind the costume and learn more about Py. Behind the knitted cloth and intricately detailed Worbla is an artist with a lot of talent, a firm grip on what geek is, and a genuine love for the WoW community.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m just a video game lover living life in the Pacific Northwest—though I’m a SoCal native. I’ve been playing videos games for as long as I can remember; all kinds, but especially fighters, RPGs, and MMOs—duh! My day job is in software technical support—snooze—but I’ve always been really crafty. I knit, sew, garden, cook, bake, and do a little bit of cosplay too.

What inspired you to start doing cosplay and costume design?
In 2009, my husband and I had just started playing WoW regularly and we were really excited to order the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket. That first night, we watched Lorraine Torres take first place in the Costume Contest as the Mistress of Pain. I grew up in Southern California, where the cosplay scene was well known. I always wanted to go to a con and dress like my favorite characters, but I never got around to it.

When we got our tickets to BlizzCon 2010, I just knew that I wouldn’t be doing BlizzCon my way if I didn’t cosplay. That’s when the Sprite Darter costume came into existence. Since then, my costumes have gotten more technical and more ambitious, a feat that could only be accomplished with my awesome husband/handler/engineer/cheerleader Logan.

Looking back over the years, which costume are you most proud of and why?
It’s cheesy, but they all hold a really special place in my heart. The Sprite Darter was my first costume, my first corset, and my first real conquering of my social anxiety. I was terrified walking to the con that morning, but I did it, and I’m so happy I did. My Season 11 Warlock is the fastest I’ve ever done a costume. I decided one month before the MoP release in Irvine to make the costume and buy tickets to fly down to attend. It was close, but I even got to go on-stage for a short interview at the event!

And then, there’s Grand Empress Shek'zeer. I mean, how could I not love her? (Oh trust me, there are plenty of times I haven’t loved her.) It took a lot of perseverance to finish her—twice!—but again, ultimately, worth all the tears and heartache and love that we put in to her. For me, it’s important for my costumes to challenge me and test what I think the limits of my abilities are. Sometimes, it’s a recipe for failure, but usually, it makes me appreciate them as individual works for what they meant to me at the time.

What inspired you to take on the ambitious task of creating Grand Empress Shek’zeer?
As we prepped to attend BlizzCon 2013, I found myself in the unusual position of being completely uninspired by my cosplay choices. Finally, we threw caution, reason, and ultimately sanity out the window and committed to Shek. I’ve always been fascinated by mantids and I’ve even had them as pets (R.I.P Zora). When the model for Shek was released, I instantly fell in love, but in that “this is completely impossible” kind of way. Logan and I had a big discussion about logistics before we decided to give it a go. TL;DR: We’re dumb.

How long did this particular costume take you to build?
There are two numbers that circulate when you read about what happened with Shek: 6 months and 2 years. Technically, they’re both right. When we decided to take on Shek, we did a ton of pre-planning. There were lots of cardboard and PVC mock-ups along with endless sketches and logistical meetings. We put 4 to 6 months of planning into her before we even started. Then, we built her for BlizzCon 2013. It was a hard push, but we mostly accomplished what we wanted to.

As I was putting her on for judging that year, the PVC cement that connected one of her legs to my belt popped.

...the PVC cement that connected one of her legs to my belt popped.

We didn’t have enough time to let it set and get me to judging. I watched the costume contest from the audience that year and cried the whole time while I cheered for all of my friends. It wasn’t the best night ever.

I had a pretty rough winter that year, but we did a lot more planning on Shek and decided to tear her down and make her better. We redid almost all of her accessory pieces in one way or another. We were able to apply a year’s worth of new techniques to clean her up and make her better. We took the legs back down to the skin, refinished them to make them smooth and beautiful, and redid her paint job. I spent many months in the gym weight training to bring my strength up to the task of carrying her. It was another intense run-up to the con and we still had a couple of friends helping us on Thursday night to wrap up the loose ends.

Where can people follow you? Do you have an official Facebook page or Twitter account?
I have a Facebook page that I try to stay active on: www.facebook.com/CosplayPy. I have a Twitter account that’s used pretty sporadically (@CosplayPy), and I have an Instagram that’s a jumble of real life, food, my animals, and occasionally some cosplay: NoPyForYou.

What advice would you like to give to people who might be thinking of trying their own cosplay creation?
Do it! No, really! The BlizzCon cosplay community especially is a really amazing and special group of people. They are some of the most awesome, creative, helpful people I’ve ever met, and I’m so honored to call so many of them my friends. They’ll be there to celebrate your crafting victories and help you through those inevitable road blocks. They’re super supportive of people new to the craft and have assembled a compendium of tutorials, walk-throughs, and blog posts for just about everything. You don’t have to do something as complicated as Shek. (Please, for the love of the old gods, don’t do something as complicated as Shek, LOL!) Everyone’s been asking me how I’m going to follow up Shek at the next BlizzCon and my answer is—I’m not! This year, I’m all about making a pretty dress—robes and cloth all the way—and there’s nothing wrong with that. Come find us; we’ll help.

As a prize for winning the BlizzCon 2014 Costume Contest you received an in-game character. What do you think of your alter ego?
I mean, who wouldn’t love it? Seriously! I cried, more than once, as I read through the write-up on it. Having such a rollercoaster with Shek over the last two years, I absolutely love that the sha-touched sprite darter to Grand Empress transformation really captures how bittersweet Shek has been for us. She’s an amazing accomplishment, but I wish the ride had been a little smoother.

Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. We hope we’ll see more of your work in the future.
*You can visit Py’s character now along the shores of the Orunai Delta in Talador.

BlizzCon 2014 Costume Contest winner Py surrounded by plush Faerie Dragons.

Blue Tweets

Classes
Is there anywhere I could find math on Leech or how it works for specific classes?
It’s a simple percentage for all classes: 1% leech = healed for 1% of damage (WarcraftDevs)

Is shuriken toss auto attacks still 80% damage? Seems like it should be 100% for combat with new draenor perks.
Shuriken Toss auto-attacks are actually 65% main hand, 75% offhand and have been this way for two years. No perks affect it. (WarcraftDevs)

Monks Power Strike talent seems to have a sporadic cooldown. It says 15sec but it comes off cooldown sooner. Is this Intended?
It’s not a cooldown; you get a charge of it every 15 seconds, so that it doesn’t matter if you don’t use it immediately. (WarcraftDevs)

Art
so who designs the landscapes and buildings for WoW? Is it just your artists, or is that a different job entirely?
There are a few teams responsible for designing and making the world. can probably share more if you're curious. (WarcraftDevs)

Fan Art
popcornGumball shared some nice artwork recently.

[moveth]

That hunter nerf. huehuehuehueuheue

[Nightgecko]

F the hunter nerf, nuff said.

[Static]

Those are some damn good artworks.

[Deleted]

Whoa that Ogre...seriously intimidating face

Will Ogres be in the Warcraft movie?

[rcshaggy]

Look at that Ogre.
Now I even want Ogres even more for a playable race!
Ogre Mage here I come!

[Frapps]

Those are some damn good artworks.

Yes indeed

[Draculla]

This cannot be just an artwork drawed in 2D. With those details and shading, its 80% 3D model made in Maya/Zbrush but awesome, looks like Grommash in WoD cinematic (from quality perspective)

[Arvandor]

praise your blizzcon..

praise your white knights..

dream your dream blizz..

the q1 day is near..

[elvor0]

praise your blizzcon..

praise your white knights..

dream your dream blizz..

the q1 day is near..

If you don't like the game, I think you might do well to not stalk a news site for it like a creepy ex boyfriend. This is to celebrate some people who have made some great pieces of art, don't be such a pretentious downer on them just because you don't like Blizzard.

OT: Loving the fanart, I'd seen the Empress cosplay before, but it's still fantastic, it's such a shame she didn't get to show the whole thing off at Blizzcon, the 3D art is great too, it's kind of "Oddworld" influenced, while still being Blizzard, if anyone else sees that?

[Meggle]

Eugh, that abomination looks gross! Fantastic job on those arts.

[Laylriana]

I do get tired of pvp-driven hunter changes being blanket changes that affect pve as well.

[Zabatakis]

Look at that Ogre.
Now I even want Ogres even more for a playable race!
Ogre Mage here I come!

Ogres have no place as a playable race. They are ugly but, don't have a hunchback. Does not compute.

[Laylriana]

I do get tired of pvp hunter concerns becoming blanket changes that involve pve as well as pvp.

[Darknessvamp]

So why did Blizzard fiddle with tranq shot and make it harder for hunters to do our job on Operator? And seriously a 150% increase in resource cost is a bit much.

[Baneleaf]

I do get tired of pvp-driven hunter changes being blanket changes that affect pve as well.

oh cry me a river. Lets see you stand in an arena and watch a hunter strip off every buff you have while they do everything on the move. No other class can remove 5 buffs in 5 globals while moving. This does not affect PVE at all since hunters rarely have to tranq shot more than once every few minutes and since you can cobra/steady while running in circles it just means one less arcane shot for a half a second. Get over it.

[Eliazer681]

Eh, if anything it just ups the usefulness of the Tranq Shot glyph (which removes the focus cost entirely but adds a small cooldown) for PVE. I can't think of a time I had to dispel more than once every 7 seconds anyway.

[Daedius]

God damn, imagine if WoW looked like that in them fan art pieces... amazing!

[Honeyprime]

Those are some damn good artworks.

I totally agree.

And that cosplay costume is so good. That's some cool stuff.

[Deleted]

Nice artwork, it reminds me Stiches yet from alpha