Mythic Nighthold, Legion Invasions, Upcoming Rogue Hotfixes, Blue Posts, Ban Wave

[chaud]

Patch 2.5.0 PTR Notes Now Live

Top HearthPwn Standard & Wild Decks for January 2016

Mythic Nighthold Progression
Method has joined Serenity and Exorsus at 9/10.

Patch 7.2 - Legion Invasions
The Legion's presence continues to grow in Patch 7.2, with invasions occurring around the Broken Isles.

• The invasion begins with a zone being under attack. The skybox, world quests, and the NPCs present are changed in some areas, similar to the pre-expansion invasions.
• The invasion quests are similar to the regular world quests, requiring you to kill NPCs and click objects.
• After completing all six invasion world quests, you have completed the Assault on Zone quest, allowing you to move to the next stage.
• Next you are sent to a specific point in the zone to defeat more invaders, with some similar followup quests.
• After all of these quests are complete, there is a three player invasion scenario that sends you to the Legion ship in the sky.
• On the ship you defeat various NPCs before defeating the leader and taking down the ship.

Patch 7.2 Preview - Legion Assaults on the Broken Isles

With the release of patch 7.2: The Tomb of Sargeras, the Burning Legion will renew their assault on Azeroth within the Broken Isles. Heroes of the Horde and Alliance will be asked to repel this incursion once more through a variety of encounters that we’re calling ‘Legion Assaults’. While this event is similar to the Demon Invasions that were available prior to the launch of the Legion expansion, Legion Assaults use the World Quests system to deliver content while minimizing the disruption for those who are leveling new or alternate characters.

Legion Assaults are accessible for players as a part of the level-up experience if they already have World Quests unlocked for another character on their account. These Legion Assault focused World Quests will be a great way to help take the fight to the Legion and earn extra experience and reputation while adventuring.

Developer Insights: Early in the discussions for the Legion expansion, we knew we wanted the Legion to attack the Broken Isles with renewed fervor sometime during the patch cycle. That time is now.

We all loved Invasions and initially pursued that same approach for patch 7.2. Unfortunately, Invasions would have been tremendously disruptive to gameplay for those who were leveling up, even though that might have been the easiest path for us to take. We also thought we'd learned a thing or two both from Invasions and the World Quest system we introduced at the launch of the expansion.

The Burning Legion will focus their attacks on multiple points within a zone and will be accessible via the World Quest system. Encounters can range from Elite bosses to areas taken over by Fel or even some ‘Impvasions’. (We couldn’t resist a pun or two.) When a zone is under assault, each World Quest will count toward that zone’s Emissary quest.

Once the widespread Assault is taken care of, players will defend a more significant point within the Broken Isles such as Thunder Totem in Highmountain or Black Rook Hold in Val’sharah.

Different from the pre-launch Demon Invasions, players will have the opportunity to take the fight a bit further by participating in a three-player Scenario in which you’ll work to neutralize a Legion Command ship that is leading demonic forces on the ground.

Developer Insights: It's in many ways, it's reminiscent of the Invasions you might have experienced from before the Legion launch, but we built everything custom for each zone. We endeavored to make the Assaults feel as disruptive as possible without actively stomping on the core level-up questlines. Yes, the Legion is here and you should fight them. But, if you're on Alt #13 because you want two Shaman characters (who doesn't?) and would prefer the "Close Your Eyes and Make It Go Away’" method, you can go about your merry questing and ignore the demons destroying the world around you.

Assaults won’t be under way at all times. Once you’ve repelled the Legion Assault from the Broken Isles, it will take the Burning Legion some time to lick their wounds, regroup, and reinforce their troops before they return to try try again. Each Assault will be available for a relatively short period and with the Legion taking a little longer before they reemerge.

Unlike Invasions, Legion Assaults don't advance for all players at the same time and each player will be able to defend each stage of the Assault. It’s up to you to make it happen and defend the Broken Isles! Being the hero you are, this shouldn’t be too difficult … Right hero?

Experience Legion Assaults before they go live now on the 7.2 Public Test Realms.

Upcoming Assassination Rogue Hotfix

We’ve been watching this closely. Rather than tweak Agonizing Poison at this time, we’re going to increase Assassination damage by about 4% for most abilities. We’ll have that change go live as soon as we can.

That will mean a +4% damage to Deadly Poison, Death from Above, Envenom, Fan of Knives, Garrote, Hemorrhage, Kingsbane, Mutilate, Poisoned Knife, and Rupture.

Assassination Rogue Agility will be reduced by 5% in PvP at the same time.

Blue Posts

Patch 7.2 - Artifact Power
What will happen in this scenario?

Person A has 54 points in his weapon and thus cannot "stack" more AP into his weapon and is thus forced to spend AP on offspec weapons.

Person B has 53 points in his weapon and can thus "stack" more AP into said weapon than person A that spent the last point in the weapon.

Will they both have the same AP/points to spend in the main weapon or is there an advantage for person B since he technicly has the potential to have a lot higher AP spent in his weapon then person A?
The current Artifact Power cap is based on total amount of AP, not on number of ranks purchased. Once you have enough AP to buy your 54th rank, you'll no longer be able to add additional AP, regardless of whether you actually buy that final rank or not.

Any additional AP beyond 54 will not be refunded. The core intent here is that you cannot farm Artifact Power beyond what is useful in Patch 7.1.5 until Patch 7.2 releases. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Patch 7.2 - Crafted Legendary Items
There are other improvements, they're just still too early in the design process for us to have anything meaningful to discuss yet. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Prestige Issues
As mentioned, this issue was resolved with patch 7.1.5.

There was previously an issue with the Prestige system which allowed players who did not immediately prestige to gain a Prestige level through a bug behind-the-scenes. As we noted previously, however, these players did earn their way through to the next level by actively PvPing up to that level at the previous cap, and, as such, we do not intend to take any actions against them.

Players who prestiged immediately without participating in PvP were not able benefit from this issue, and, unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to address this.

Again, we apologize to those in this situation and will continue working to prevent this from occurring in the future. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Order Hall Armor Sets
Thanks for your feedback so far on this set. I've passed it along to Team 2, and I've got a couple of things to share here.

With the launch of 7.2, the opening quest for Broken Shore, along with various Broken Shore World Quests, will reward tokens to upgrade your Class Order Set to item level 860.

It's worth noting that the intention with this set is more on the introductory side, with the aim of helping folks get geared up for content, rather than being a sole "end" set for any particular style of play.

If you're the kind of player who only does World Quests and World Bosses, this upgrade should help complement your armor roster, and may provide a few pieces of gear for you. If you're leveling alts, this upgrade will provide a good way to boost your character's item level once you hit 110 and jump into 7.2 content.

Let us know if you have any feedback or questions on this!

860 isnt very good gear. Why not 875?
Again, the purpose of this set is not to be an answer to not raiding. 860 will keep you afloat, and should be acceptable to get into normal modes for most 7.0-7.1.5 raids, with a bit of a bump needed for something like normal Nighthold.

How are they useful for alts? I just leveled another one, who could take advantage of the set right now, except that the restrictions on the gear are a major roadblock. Is there a way I'm totally missing for us to remove those restrictions so they could actually be useful?

It is good that this armor set is an (expensive) bad luck protection to guarantee us an 860 piece (next patch) if we haven't been able to fill a slot or two. But there is an awfully big gap between that and being useful for alts. The previous alt I bought the crafted set and upgraded a piece or two all the way with oblit to get my ilvl high enough to lift me into the 840 bracket of wqs. That isn't possible with the class set.
Understandable. I can check and see if any of that gating is changing, as I'm not sure off-hand. There are several pieces that are -not- locked behind Exalted, however, so those pieces will at least be able to get you a quick boost.

Again, and it's worth noting, it's not supposed to be an end-all answer to high-level gear.

I think you fundamentally miss the point. The point isn't that the ilvl was too low, its that the items take so long to acquire they are useless before you can get them.

Exalted rep is just one example.
No, I understand that it does take effort to unlock the full set of gear, but again, it's not meant to be an absolute answer to every slot, but more something to better compliment your gear curve as you work through content.

You can easily unlock the helm, wrist, and chest shortly after hitting 110, with the leggings being the next easiest, followed by the belt and gloves. The shoulders and feet take longer, and I understand that concern (hence why I said I'll check on the gating).

I do think that players should expect to have to put in effort to obtain items, but it's still accurate to say that if you plan on playing and committing to an alt, you can still use these pieces as pretty large upgrades as your acquire other gear.

I'll put this as diplomatically as I can:

Why do the developers have so poor an understanding of their own reward structure that they think 860, an item level that is considered too low 7.0 content, is in any way a reasonable starting point for 7.2 content?
We never said this set was intended to get you into 7.2 raids - and that would be silly if it were. But it should be fine for getting into Mythics, the 7.2 dungeon, world quests, etc. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Recent World of Warcraft Account Actions

We’ve recently taken action against thousands of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as “bots.” We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.

Dark Legacy Comics #570 - Below the Belt
DLC #570 has been released!

[Deleted]

DLC Soooo true !!!
They should also make 1 for ledgendary crap drops .
Even more sadness haha !!!

[Baneleaf]

DLC Soooo true !!!
They should also make 1 for ledgendary crap drops .
Even more sadness haha !!!

I think they did a while back or it may have been a single pane comic. Check out his page with the previous issues.

[Granyala]

DLC is spot on.
Blizzards loot system brought me to the point of not giving a crap about gear anymore.

[Tarx]

Belt of sadness I'm dying XD

[Deleted]

Did I miss something? Why are they buffing Assassination Rogues? Aren't they one of the most powerful specs already, at the moment?!

EDIT: Looking at warcraftlogs, Assa Rogue is actually number one in Heroic Nighthold up to the 80th percentile... 5th at 90th percentile... What the fuck Blizz.

[Kiri]

DLC is spot on.
Blizzards loot system brought me to the point of not giving a crap about gear anymore.

Ironically, I currently have the Symbiote belt...and am looking desperately for a new one so that I could replace Symbiote with a better leg. Admittedly, it is rare, but testament to the fact that having at least one non-leg item for a slot is not bad, especially if the stats are good. You never know if the next emissary cache will have a leg for you.

[Dobrogii]

Did I miss something? Why are they buffing Assassination Rogues? Aren't they one of the most powerful specs already, at the moment?!

EDIT: Looking at warcraftlogs, Assa Rogue is actually number one in Heroic Nighthold up to the 80th percentile... 5th at 90th percentile... What the fuck Blizz.

Bro only good thing assa does is st,and even at that alot of classes beat it and can do 10x more aoe than them,basically assa rogue cant even be good at their neich,thats why the buff.

[Rylalai]

Bro only good thing assa does is st,and even at that alot of classes beat it and can do 10x more aoe than them,basically assa rogue cant even be good at their neich,thats why the buff.

"a lot of classes" Yeah.. According to logs: Demon Hunters maybe.. And Arms. But the rest? Not so much. And Arms warriors suck in AE situations, the same as Assa.

[Deleted]

Bro only good thing assa does is st,and even at that alot of classes beat it and can do 10x more aoe than them,basically assa rogue cant even be good at their neich,thats why the buff.

Whining about AOE in a raid where only 1 fight is really an AOE fight, rest are singletarget, "main target switching", or cleave is like whining about low mobility in a raid where 90% of the fights require you to stand still.

[Dobrogii]

Whining about AOE in a raid where only 1 fight is really an AOE fight, rest are singletarget, "main target switching", or cleave is like whining about low mobility in a raid where 90% of the fights require you to stand still.

Single target if u mean you just tunnel ignoring everything then I guess yeah,but does tunneling benefit your raid? I guess not,dont count in scorpion for only aoe fight,cuz there are alot of cleave fights where assa can either tunnel and have alot of boss dmg,but even in that case Dh,retri,frost dk can cleave and do st dmg alot higher than the rogues.

[VanishO2]

Never understood their reward system. And it's not only for the order hall set. This is like that for ages where they put a low level gear to purchase behind a requirement that means you'll get something better way faster.

Introductory gear should never require that much effort. Some of it's requirements are exactly what you want the gear to being with.

Exalted/Revered should be for cosmetic stuff only. If it was an order hall cosmetic thing, that would be ok, but it's not.

I'm yet to grab that set on a character that could use it. One of the pieces requires you to hit revered on at least two factions. Way too much time grinding WQs and all that, which will net you probably a 835+ item instead. The other requires exalted. Another wants you to run all 8 dungeons (which will probably give you a lot more thanks to the warforged system that spams you with upgrades)...

The only thing every character ends up using is the reward for hitting 110 (the helm?) and it's replaced faster than you can even upgrade it to 820/830/840 (the costs for upgrading the pieces also made no sense, the only time you will be flooded with order resources is when you don't need the set anymore).

[Nozuka]

DLC is spot on.
Blizzards loot system brought me to the point of not giving a crap about gear anymore.

was always hunting for the BIS until wotlk. eventually i got bored of starting all over again with every expansion.

now i just play what i like the most until i don't. and the loot just comes to me naturally.

[comandante cobra]

Would be cool if in the 3-players invasion scenarios it was possible to join horde and alliance characters, would be very cool, would be in the context of the expansion and avoid queues, and maybe a future tool of coexistence between factions...

[Deleted]

Single target if u mean you just tunnel ignoring everything then I guess yeah,but does tunneling benefit your raid? I guess not,dont count in scorpion for only aoe fight,cuz there are alot of cleave fights where assa can either tunnel and have alot of boss dmg,but even in that case Dh,retri,frost dk can cleave and do st dmg alot higher than the rogues.

You clearly play another game than most of us.

[Granyala]

Never understood their reward system. And it's not only for the order hall set. This is like that for ages where they put a low level gear to purchase behind a requirement that means you'll get something better way faster.

Blizzard DEVs HATE deterministic reward systems and get off of RNG based slot machines. So they make sure the deterministic ones are a "bad luck backup" at best.

now i just play what i like the most until i don't. and the loot just comes to me naturally.

Pretty much. No need to obsess about gear if it's reset every patch anyway.

[akajpete]

Woohoooooooo!

[finchna]

seriously?? now the legion invades (again), so we're going back to pre-legion puke-green world, spaceship attack stuff -- where have they been for so long? did it take them this long to find dalaran?

Dark Legacy -- too real

[AceofH]

Did I miss something? Why are they buffing Assassination Rogues? Aren't they one of the most powerful specs already, at the moment?!

EDIT: Looking at warcraftlogs, Assa Rogue is actually number one in Heroic Nighthold up to the 80th percentile... 5th at 90th percentile... What the fuck Blizz.

assassination rogues were kings at launch. since then due to the high dmg output (Single Target Only, with mediocre cleave and weak aoe) Assassination was nerfed directly to Agonizing Poison. then they found out that Kingsbane (artifact weapon ability) was double dipping on damage bonus recieved with agonizing poison and fixed that. since that rogues are falling behind in Single Target damage to somewhere between the top and middle. due to this they are buffing assassination to compensate for the double nerf.

- - - Updated - - -

Single target if u mean you just tunnel ignoring everything then I guess yeah,but does tunneling benefit your raid? I guess not,dont count in scorpion for only aoe fight,cuz there are alot of cleave fights where assa can either tunnel and have alot of boss dmg,but even in that case Dh,retri,frost dk can cleave and do st dmg alot higher than the rogues.

the problem is assassination target switching is even weak, with mediocre ramp up and ample fall off due to agonizing poison.

[OPLIX]

Invasions stolen directly from Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion. Literally you do the same thing. Kill/objectives then you get to go to the mothership and kill the boss.