WC Movie, Feb 9 Hotfixes, Mythic Blackrock Foundry This Week, Blue Tweets, FinalBoss

[chaud]

Massive Ban Wave, Why Start Fresh, Leveling Method for S2

Hearthstone Patch 7785 - Friends UI Bugfixes

The State of Heroes Ranked Play

Warcraft Movie Marketing
Duncan Jones recently talked a little bit more about the Warcraft movie and marketing it.

So lets chat. Ive got a movie coming out next year; WARCRAFT. Its based on a computer game of the same name but its pretty unique. We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see. You know as well as I do, game to film adaptions have a checkered past, but Im proud of this beast. It's unique. Its something special. (ManMadeMoon)

Tricky. Want to let the people who grew up with Warcraft know we are doing right by them & welcome those who don't know it at all! (ManMadeMoon)

Well how far from the game does it lean? Is it a very loose adaptation or would fans find it rewarding on a different level?
Definitely the latter. (ManMadeMoon)

Any worry long time Warcraft fans will be disappointed by any changes made to the movie?
I don't think so... But more importantly, Chris Metzen and the gang have worked with us right from the start. (ManMadeMoon)

definitely for female audiences like me, not into games, don't even suggest it's a video game.
Agreed. Do you think the title itself would be held against it though? "Warcraft?" (ManMadeMoon)

Can you say anything about how much is live action vs CGI?
I would say that we fit somewhere between Planet of the Apes, Fellowship of the Ring and Avatar. (ManMadeMoon)

So many action films these days too, if trailers are just mash ups of attacking I imagine it might feel just like any another
Agreed. (ManMadeMoon)

I take it you're looking for the best way to convey the uniqueness and specialness w/o giving the game away, then?
Yes. But there is a central conceit we're sharing right from the start. Its a story told from two sides. (ManMadeMoon)

Thought Guardians of the Galaxy trailer did a great job telling non-sci-fi fans it was a film for them too. Good guiding star.
deffo worth a relook at how they did it. (ManMadeMoon)

As a non-player, I wouldn't want to feel alienated from plot by trailers assuming audience knowledge of warcraft
VERY sensible. (ManMadeMoon)

Mythic Blackrock Foundry Opens this Week
The race to world first begins again this week with the opening of Mythic Blackrock Foundry. LFR's first wing opens next week and last wing opens in six weeks.

It won’t be long before you’ll be able to take the assault against the Iron Horde to the next level in new Raid content. To help you plan your attack, we’ve broken down the unlock schedule for Blackrock Foundry and the third Draenor world boss – Rukhmar. Will you be ready?
Those who plan to jump into the action in the Raid Finder will need a minimum item level of 635. Here's the rundown:

February 3, 2015:

• Blackrock Foundry opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties available.
• World boss Rukhmar becomes available in Spires of Arak.

February 10, 2015:

• Mythic difficulty becomes available.

February 17, 2015:

• Raid Finder Wing 1: Slagworks (Gruul, Oregorger, and The Blast Furnace) unlocks.

February 24, 2015:

• Raid Finder Wing 2: The Black Forge (Hans’gar and Franzok, Flamebender Ka’graz, and Kromog ) unlocks.

March 10, 2015:

• Raid Finder Wing 3: Iron Assembly (Beastlord Darmac, Operator Thogar, and The Iron Maidens) unlocks.

March 24, 2015:

• Raid Finder Wing 4: Blackhand’s Crucible (Blackhand) unlocks.

AskMrRobot - Combat Infographics
AskMrRobot launched a new feature just in time for Blackrock Foundry, new boss infographics. Combat Infographics give you an at a glance idea of how well you and your raid are doing at things like avoiding damage, dealing damage, healing, killing adds, and more.

Icy Veins - Blackrock Foundry Guides
Our friends over at Icy Veins have their Blackrock Foundry guides up to date, so be sure to take a look as you progress through the raid.

Patch 6.0.3 Hotfixes - February 9

World Event: Love is in the Air

• Crushing the Crown: Fixed an issue where the Crown Chemical Company Wagon in Darkshore was not granting quest completion credit.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

• Blackrock Foundry
  
  • Gruul
    
    • Gronnling Laborer's Gronnling Smash ability now deals less damage.
    • Reduced the damage that Gruul’s Inferno Strike deals to 10-player raid groups on Normal and Heroic difficulties, but increased the rate at which damage scales with raid size. Larger raid groups should find the damage relatively unchanged; smaller groups will find that the ability now deals less damage.
  • The Blast Furnace
    
    • There's now a berserk timer for the encounter at the 13 minute mark.
  • Iron Maidens
    
    • Admiral Gar'an's Penetrating Shot no longer targets players who are riding a loading chain.
    • Fixed a situation where Tricks of the Trade (Rogue) or Misdirection (Hunter) could cause the Deckhands to go into evade mode.
  • Blackhand
    
    • [Requires a realm restart] Beginning with the new raid timer, Blackhand will consistently drop universal set tokens at the same consistent rates as other bosses in Blackrock Foundry.
    • If the Siegemaker's Fixated target dies, it should now Fixate on the closest target.
    • Cast time for Iron Soldier's Explosive Rounds ability should now be scaling smoothly with raid size and should no longer have breakpoints where the damage ramps up more than intended at 16 and 26 players.
    • In Stage Two, Blackhand now casts Marked for Death every 16 seconds (up from 15 seconds).
    • Players no longer take falling damage upon landing after receiving Blackhand's Massive Shattering Smash.
    • In Stage Three, Blackhand's Attach Slag Bombs ability now prefers players that are not affected by the Impaled debuff.

Battleground and Arenas

• Druid's Starfall and Sunfall no longer targets players that are capturing a PvP point in Arathi Basin, Battle for Gilneas, and Eye of the Storm.

Bug Fixes

• Alliance characters that complete the Primal Combatant achievement are no longer being told to go to Orgrimmar to receive a reward.
• Fixed an issue where characters that log out on the Deeprun Tram may be unable to log back in.

Blue Tweets

Classes
Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
What more feedback could you possibly need? It was buffed by 50%. Add -25% reduced healing in pvp. Keep it instant. Done.
In 6.1, Saving Grace is 50% better and instant. It is then nerfed by 33% in PvP. Same healing + instant. Simply better than 6.0. (holinka)
After testing, 54k on Live, 40ish on PTR. Looks like it is increased by 50% then reduced by 50%, not 33%.
check next build. (holinka)

Character / Items
Coming in Patch 6.1: Elemental Rune collected for the 'Might of the Elemental Lords' quest will stack to 999. (WarcraftDevs)

Concerned the new Piccolo is going to be another annoying item that interrupts eating/drinking, confirm it won't?
We've changed the way the item works specifically to avoid that. It will not interrupt eating or drinking. (WarcraftDevs)

PvP
stupid question: does the ice nova change mean that it won't DR with poly anymore?
Correct (holinka)

Garrisons
I'm a raid leader, and I built a Mage Tower to help my raid team get to raid. Did I just waste my gold? They can't use it?
Your friends will be able to use your Mage Tower / Spirit Lodge portals in patch 6.1! (WarcraftDevs)

Does the patch note change wrt amulets/rings for tanks/healers apply to raids or just quests in Nagrand + Garrison missions?
Yes, it applies to all Garrison mission tokens, as well as raids and dungeons. (WarcraftDevs)

FinalBoss #70 - Protection Paladin
If you missed FinalBoss this week, you missed some Protection Paladin discussion with Slootbag and Treckie! The show is normally on Sunday at 4 PM EST.

[The Glitch]

Oooh so nice to see Duncan Jones interacting with folks for feedback, cannot wait for this movie!

[bison91]

I think that movie is failed already. read his comment: "We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see" so they are working for the people who DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME. and they dont care for people who know it well. any1 who dont know the game WONT EVEN CARE about it. they can watch or not. what is important is to not disapoint people with knowledge. shit i knew that. atleast i wont be hyped.
They want to inspire new people to join their universe? if the movie will suck and have quotes like hes means they will even reduce the number and lose veterans attention

[Effbee]

Wow, that's what you took away from Duncan's comments? I think you read the one comment that you knew would incite some rage in you and ignored the rest.

From all that has been said by Blizzard and Duncan Jones, I can't see why anyone would be worried. Could it be rubbish? Of course it could. But why go into it thinking that when there is nothing to suggest it will be. At least wait for the trailer

[Daeaye]

Not sure there's any need for 'Warcraft' to be in the title. It will immediately limit the audience, with all the 'cool' kids who don't play games avoiding it because, let's be honest, Warcraft is nerdy - Warhammer would have the same issue.
'Warcraft' would just let the fans know the movie is there, and let's be honest again, we already know it's there, and those players who don't look at forums like this will surely see mention on the Battle.net launcher, so all current players will know. They'll tell their friends, people who don't play any more but still love the old lore, and so more Warcraft fans will know.

If they want others to watch the film without being alienated by 'Warcraft', they should drop the word from the title altogether. Warcraft fans will know it when they see it, and they'll find out about it once it's released, too. I think using 'Azeroth' in the title, or a Warcraft name like that, would be best. It's not at all obvious to non-players that it's Warcraft (though this fact will be unavoidably stated in press releases and reviews from early screenings), instead it should be obvious that it's a fantasy. People who don't like fantasy, whether they like Warcraft or think it's lame, won't go and see it either way. But stating 'Warcraft' right off the bat will limit the audience in a way I can see they don't want to, just from the points raised above.

Like I said, there's no need for it to state 'Warcraft' anywhere in the title. Warcraft fans will know, one way or another.

[snapT0rmentt]

I think that movie is failed already. read his comment: "We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see" so they are working for the people who DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME. and they dont care for people who know it well. any1 who dont know the game WONT EVEN CARE about it. they can watch or not. what is important is to not disapoint people with knowledge. shit i knew that. atleast i wont be hyped.
They want to inspire new people to join their universe? if the movie will suck and have quotes like hes means they will even reduce the number and lose veterans attention

I'm guessing you're not very good at relationships with the level of over-thinking and analyzing you do. God the pessimism is real.

[Deleted]

The title has to stay. It's the bloody IP! If you think computer gaming nerds had it rough, imagine how much of a massive negative connotation bloody Lord of the Rings or Dune should have had, what with it being bibles of massive bookworms!

Having faith in your IP is important, and the name is vital to that. If you don't want to alienate non-fans, the best way to go around it is to not throw names around like they mean anything, to keep your story nice and simple, not ramming characters in left and right and, most importantly, to not end on an obvious cliffhanger (Almost every movie adaptation falls into that pitfall. For the love of god, I hope they won't.)

Immersion is key, without drowning outsiders by an overclutter of pointless information. I remember reading one of the good warcraft books to someone, and them being a teeny bit overwhelmed. Now take some of the latter, weaker books where they shove WoW locations and character names left and right, and I had to stop reading because it was just too much for them.

But come on, it's going ot be warcraft I/partially II. That story can be told in a great myriad set of different fun ways!

[Backjauer]

I think that movie is failed already. read his comment: "We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see" so they are working for the people who DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME. and they dont care for people who know it well. any1 who dont know the game WONT EVEN CARE about it. they can watch or not. what is important is to not disapoint people with knowledge. shit i knew that. atleast i wont be hyped.
They want to inspire new people to join their universe? if the movie will suck and have quotes like hes means they will even reduce the number and lose veterans attention

Honestly I'm glad it's not aimed purely at gamers. That'd be a sure fire way to make a shit wankfest of a film.

Making something that makes sense to non-fans is a good thing.

[Kourvith]

What more feedback could you possibly need? It was buffed by 50%. Add -25% reduced healing in pvp. Keep it instant. Done.

In 6.1, Saving Grace is 50% better and instant. It is then nerfed by 33% in PvP. Same healing + instant. Simply better than 6.0. (holinka)

Translation : We got it right, you're wrong. Shut up.

After testing, 54k on Live, 40ish on PTR. Looks like it is increased by 50% then reduced by 50%, not 33%.

check next build.

Translation : Ok we messed up. It's corrected in the next build.

[NightHaawk]

Translation : We got it right, you're wrong. Shut up.




Translation : We messed up. It's corrected in the next build.

cool story?

- - - Updated - - -

The title has to stay. It's the bloody IP! If you think computer gaming nerds had it rough, imagine how much of a massive negative connotation bloody Lord of the Rings or Dune should have had, what with it being bibles of massive bookworms!

But society looks at reading books and video games VERY differently, not really a comparison at all.

[Deleted]

Doesn't matter if it's called Warcraft or Azeroth or whatever. I'll wait until I can watch it for free on the Internet.

[Fablewynd]

I'm just disappointed that the Blizzard's music department won't be scoring the film

[warlocx]

Personally i could care less about the marketing for the warcraft movie. I just want to see it!

[Sabrescene]

I think that movie is failed already. read his comment: "We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see" so they are working for the people who DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME. and they dont care for people who know it well. any1 who dont know the game WONT EVEN CARE about it. they can watch or not. what is important is to not disapoint people with knowledge. shit i knew that. atleast i wont be hyped.
They want to inspire new people to join their universe? if the movie will suck and have quotes like hes means they will even reduce the number and lose veterans attention

You've got it completely backwards. When making an adaptation the first major goal is always to try appeal to a wider-general audience. The assumption is that the core-audience will go see it anyway, so why bother spending 99% of your time and effort on them? Obviously you shouldn't ignore them either but that balance is usually the difference between a good and bad adaptation.

I'm just disappointed that the Blizzard's music department won't be scoring the film

I agree, that would've been awesome but they do the composer for Game of Thrones (which I also love the score of) so I'm personally not too worried.

[Harbour]

Im really optimistic about the movie and its future. The dude said that the movie won't disappoint the fans, and the plot was approved by Metzen and Co. Based on Blizzcons I'm sure we will see the First War on steroids, with Medivh-Sargeras, Orgrim-Blackhand, Garona-Llane plot twists and epic assault of Stormwind. Only idiots interprent the words "We want deliver to the fans and broad audience" as "We shit on fans". The words "deliver to the broad audience" means "There will be no things non-gamer can't understand, like hp bars, some elements of the actual game. There will be the lore of the Warcraft Universe turned into live action movie, with the sympathetic heroes, anti-heroes, tons of magic, and epic battles in LotR style". And thats it. I dont know what some people are worry about. Right now only the music component worries me. No one ever touched the music of the Warcraft besides Blizzards Composers. Now it will be done by some other guy, who i rememberer only because GoT and Pacific Rim Main Themes. Other shit he did pretty bad.

[elvor0]

I think that movie is failed already. read his comment: "We're trying to work out how best to let people who don't play the game know that this is a film they'll genuinely want to see" so they are working for the people who DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAME. and they dont care for people who know it well. any1 who dont know the game WONT EVEN CARE about it. they can watch or not. what is important is to not disapoint people with knowledge. shit i knew that. atleast i wont be hyped.
They want to inspire new people to join their universe? if the movie will suck and have quotes like hes means they will even reduce the number and lose veterans attention

Whatever, Marvel bring in non comic book fans every day with their movies without compromising a bit. Guardians of the fucking Galaxy did well, and they're obscure by comic book standards, let alone mainstream. Warcraft will be fine, everyones heard of Warcraft. Besides, as much as it'd be a "great" for Jones to make a movie specifically for you, he does need to make some money out of the film. Catering JUST for gamers is how you end up with a narratively awful film. If it ends up being bad, it'll be because it was a bad movie, not because it didn't just cater to fans, despite the complaints of someone that can barely string a sentence together.

[Kourvith]

cool story?

More like bad PR.

[Demoncrash]

The movie will be fine. I was a bit worried too but after seeing what the people working on it had to say at blizzcon i'am pretty optimistic.

While it may not be another LOTR, at least won't be Uwe Boll garbage.

[Korru]

I can't wait until the critics crap on the movie.

[Repose]

I was at Blizzcon and saw the sneak peak of the Warcraft movie. It looked really amazing, with stunning special effects. It obviously didn't delve too hard into the story, but I'm not worried and I can't wait to see it brought to life in theaters.