Blizzard Product Slate, Forum Titles, Blizzcast 15, Blue Posts

[Boubouille]

Update - Added November 30 hotfixes, including a massive boost to Gamon's already incredible power!

Blizzard Product Slate "Leak"
People are pretty excited about a new picture going around the web, supposedly a leak of the schedule of Blizzard's release for the next year. I don't usually comment that kind of things but ...

Source
The image appeared on MMOGamesite.com, apparently this is an english MMO site based in China and I already know a lot of people will hate me for reporting that news. The document itself is probably a slide from an internal presentation to executives and/or shareholders, and seems to be 8 months old according to the date at the top.

Battle.net 2.0

• BNET2 - Well, that's the Battle.net we now use on WoW.
• BNET2MapMarket - This is pretty self explanatory, but I'm a little surprised by the timeline.
• BNET2 3rd Parties - The end-game with Battle.net is as far as I know to compete with Steam. One of the best way to do that would be to use the new platform to distribute a popular game, and if that game was an upcoming Call of Duty title the Activision/Blizzard merge would suddenly make a lot of sense, right?

Starcraft 2
Nothing really new here, but I have no idea what SC2 Phoenix is.

Diablo 3
Target release date in a year makes sense. The 2 expansions aren't really a surprise but I wouldn't take it as a confirmation, that's usually the kind of stuff you mention in company meetings with the higher-ups to make everyone happy.

World of Warcraft

• WoWMobile - Done/in-progress with the mobile Auction House and the upcoming extra features.
• Cataclysm - Well, we all know about that.
• WoW Brazil - Portuguese translation of the game. I already heard a couple of rumors about that and at this point I'm 99% sure it's true, this is one of the reason why I think this document is legit. (The 2 others being the TCG Game and Titan)
• WoW X4 - 4th expansion in a year and a half sounds very plausible.
• WoW TCG - TCG Game, this part will probably remind you of one of my old posts ... The Future of World of Warcraft: TCG
• WoW Movie - I'd say the timeline is off because the document is a few months old, before Sam Raimi decided to work on other projects before the Warcraft movie (but I still want to believe).
• WoW X5 - 5th expansion a year and a half later, nothing surprising.

Titan
Yeah, that's Blizzard's new MMOFPS and I might have hinted at that in the past but I don't have a lot of extra information about it and the release date is just an estimation. Don't assume that it will be released by the end of 2013 based on that document, it would be very stupid.

Conclusion
The document is probably legit, even if it's already a little old it still confirms and backups a couple of information I already mentioned, and mentions the portuguese translation for the first time in public. Don't take it as a hard fact and don't bring it up too much on official forums but I think it's an interesting piece of information.


New Forum Titles are here!
The new titles are finally deployed on the forums and I'm only a few months late! Hopefully it will make the regular forum posters happier and it will be an awesome opportunity for the 40 new moderators I will promote tomorrow to ban hundreds of people trying to boost their post count. See the list below, the post count required for the last 3 titles will remain secret for the moment, it's ridiculously high anyway.

0 Keyboard Turner 10 Grunt 25 Blademaster 50 Field Marshal 100 High Overlord 200 The Patient 350 Stood in the Fire 500 Mechagnome 750 Dreadlord 1000 Bloodsail Admiral 1250 Brewmaster 1500 Epic! 1750 Pandaren Monk 2000 Warchief

2250 Pit Lord 2500 Herald of the Titans 3000 The Lightbringer 4000 Scarab Lord 5000 I am Murloc! 6000 Legendary! 7000 Immortal 8000 Elemental Lord 9000 Over 9000! 10000 Old God 11000 Titan ????? The Insane ????? The Unstoppable Force ????? Merely a Setback

Patch 4.0.3a Hotfixes - November 30

Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.

November 30

• Gamon is now immune to all forms of crowd control, uses the abilities Charge and Battle Shout, and wrecks adversaries with his new two-handed axe.
• Players should no longer be prevented from entering a Battleground for no reason.
• Many loot tables for NPCs have been adjusted to provide the correct items and scaling.
• The Alchemy bonus from Flask of Stoneskin now grants 120 stamina, up from 80 stamina, to keep it in-line with similar bonuses from other professions.
• Many creatures in Uldaman were not awarding reputation upon death. This has been corrected.
• Wrathbone Reavers, Wrathbone Sorcerers, and Fallen Warriors no longer grant reputation in Pit of Saron.
• Players can again start the Thrall escape event in Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad regardless of quest status.
• The temporary guardian Basalt Rockling no longer drops from Balboa in Azshara.
• Magma-Lord Kolob in Burning Steppes no longer awards dungeon tabard reputation.
• The rest area for Tarren Mill is now correctly located in the inn.
• Golden Skeleton Key can no longer open lockboxes that requires a higher Lockpicking skill than 125.
• Bronjahm should once again drop Heroic-quality loot in Heroic Forge of Souls.
• Random, mean level 15 deer appeared in Teldrassil to the shock and awe of low-level players. They have been replaced with level 1 fawn.
• Gunships in Isle of Conquest should now work properly when a member of the opposite faction is on the gunship.
• It is no longer possible to bypass Fatigue beyond the borders of Dun Morogh (looking at you here, death knights).

Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• All ranks of Lifeblood are correctly granting the amount of Haste listed in their tooltips and are no longer affected by max health.
• Ravage! is no longer consuming Clearcasting when it is used, and is only benefiting from Stampede.

Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Trueshot Aura now functions correctly for level 39 hunters.
• Hunter pets that were immortal can now be killed, flying pets no longer fly, and pets that were immobile after tamed properly move.
• Beetle and turtle pet armor is now consistent with other Tenacity pet armor.
• Qiraji Scarabs from the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj are no longer able to be effected by the Mutate Bug buff after being tamed.

Mage (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• When Freeze misses or resists on the first target, but is successful on another target, the mage will correctly get the Fingers of Frost procs from the target successfully hit.
• Applying a damage-over-time Fire spell to a target that is being tanked no longer causes that target to face the mage.
• The effect of the talent Firestarter will no longer stop functioning when Molten Armor has only 30 minutes remaining when cast with Glyph of Armors active.

Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Hammer of the Righteous now consistently hits all nearby targets, including those behind the paladin.
• Hammer of the Righteous should now function correctly if used right as an auto-attack begins.

Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Holy Word: Sanctuary was healing for too much when used with Glyph of Prayer of Healing. This has been corrected.

Warlock (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)

• Demon pets should not be receiving the appropriate contribution of the warlock's armor.
• Blood Pact is now properly scaling with the level of party members.

Quests

• Dungeon quests for level 1-60 dungeons on Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor now reward significantly less experience. Read more about this change here.
• The event for "The Battle for Darrowshire" properly resets after a failed attempt and the Relic Bundle will correctly trigger the event again after a failed attempt.
• Soldiers in Northwatch Foothold, Durotar now spawn more frequently.
• Players should no longer get disconnected if they attempt to share a quest that isn't supposed to be sharable.
• Players should still be able to interact with Orgus after offering a drink for the quest "Let's See What You've Got, Zanzil".
• Ranger Glynda Nal'shea no longer has a duplicate personality appearing in Lor'danel, Darkshore.
• Satchel of Helpful Goods should be rewarded when players complete Shadowfang Keep via the Looking For Dungeon system.
• "The Secrets of Uldum" can be completed.
• Margol the Rager in Searing Gorge now respawns in a much more reasonable timeframe.
• Plainstriders in Northern Barrens now respawn considerably faster to meet the demand of their demise.
• "One Draenei's Junk..." and "Kum'isha's Endeavors" can no longer be shared.
• The quest item Enohar's Explosive Arrows for the quest "Curtail the Darktail" can now only be used on Darktail Bonepickers within Blasted Lands.
• Mounted characters can now proceed through "Rise of the Brotherhood" in Westfall without any complications.
• Buttonwillow's Hand Grenade from the quest "Remove Their Arms" can no longer be used outside of Blasted Lands.
• Golems at the Grimesilt Dig Site in Searing Gorge should now respawn at a more reasonable rate.
• Players should no longer experience a client crash when accepting the quest "A Destiny of Flame and Sorrow".

BlizzCast 15 Now Available

BlizzCast 15 is now live! In this episode, we bring you in-depth coverage of the upcoming Cataclysm expansion and discuss everything from world creation to class changes to sound design.

In our first segment, we discuss world-building with World of Warcraft Lead World Designer Alex Afrasiabi and Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton. For our second segment, we delve into music and sound design with Composer and Director of Audio Russell Brower and Senior Composer of Music and Sound Derek Duke. Our third segment focuses on the voice acting in Cataclysm with Producer of Casting and Talent Relations Andrea Toyias. Last, but certainly not least, we sit down with World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg Street to discuss the class and systems changes in Cataclysm.

Head over to the BlizzCast page to listen now, or download it from iTunes.

Dungeon Quest Experience Reduction

We are applying a hotfix today to all level 1-60 dungeon quests for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms dungeons which will significantly reduce the amount of experience they award.

While dungeons should remain integral to our evolving storylines, and great places to collect gear in cooperative environments, we need to make sure each player’s questing progress remains relevant as dungeon quests are completed. In many cases we’re seeing players enter dungeons to complete quests, only to come out ahead of the leveling curve for the zones they’re in.

This change should allow players the opportunity to reap the benefits of running dungeons, while not outpacing the leveling flow from levels 1-60. At this time there are no plans for making any adjustments to dungeon quest experience for Outland, Northrend, and level 80+ Cataclysm dungeons.

You can find a list of all of the latest hotfixes here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869

Dungeon Level Changes

The Cataclysm has wrought changes to many facets of Azeroth and the dungeons found across the world are no exception. As many of the zones throughout the world now have new level ranges, the dungeons within their borders have been adjusted to match, and the items that drop within those dungeons have had their stats changed accordingly.

Here's a list of all 1-60 dungeons and the level range at which each should be explored, followed by the minimum level required for entry in parentheses.

In order by minimum level to enter.

• The Deadmines - Level Range: 15-21 (10)
• Ragefire Chasm - Level Range: 15-21 (10)
• Wailing Caverns - Level Range: 15-25 (10)
• Shadowfang Keep - Level Range: 16-26 (11)
• Stormwind Stockade - Level Range: 20-30 (15)
• Blackfathom Deeps - Level Range: 20-30 (15)
• Gnomeregan - Level Range: 24-34 (19)
• The Scarlet Monastery - Graveyard - Level Range: 26-36 (21)
• The Scarlet Monastery - Library - Level Range: 29-39 (21)
• The Scarlet Monastery - Armory - Level Range: 32-42 (21)
• The Scarlet Monastery - Cathedral - Level Range: 35-45 (21)
• Razorfen Kraul - Level Range: 30-40 (25)
• Maraudon - Purple Crystals - Level Range: 30-40 (25)
• Maraudon - Orange Crystals - Level Range: 32-42 (25)
• Maraudon - Pristine Waters - Level Range: 34-44 (25)
• Uldaman - Level Range: 35-45 (30)
• Dire Maul - East - Level Range: 36-46 (31)
• Scholomance - Level Range: 38-48 (33)
• Dire Maul - West - Level Range: 39-49 (34)
• Razorfen Downs - Level Range: 40-50 (35)
• Dire Maul - North - Level Range: 42-52 (37)
• Stratholme - Main Gate - Level Range: 42-52 (37)
• Zul'farrak - Level Range: 44-54 (39)
• Stratholme - Service Entrance - Level Range: 46-56 (41)
• Blackrock Depths - Prison - Level Range: 47-57 (42)
• The Sunken Temple - Level Range: 50-60 (45)
• Blackrock Depths - Upper City - Level Range: 51-61 (46)
• Lower Blackrock Spire - Level Range: 55-65 (48)
• Upper Blackrock Spire - Level Range: 55-65 (48)

Blue Posts

City Tabards and reputation in dungeons
If you are wearing one of the new faction tabards (e.g. Thunder Bluff, Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge, etc.), you will only receive reputation gains for that city/faction when in Classic (1-60), Northrend (70-80), and Cataclysm (80-85) dungeons. Outland dungeons will not currently provide reputation gains for the "home city" faction you are championing; this is intended.

Also, just as a heads up, if dungeon mobs and bosses are trivial to you, you will receive less reputation than if they are within your level range. This is just to ensure that players who exceed the dungeon's intended level range can still benefit from championing a specific faction, but aren't given a distinct advantage over those who are of the appropriate level and are unable to solo the content. This should also help encourage players to improve their reputation in dungeons more appropriate for their level, rather than running lower level content solely for the reputation (which isn't a bad thing by any means; we just want you to enjoy the content designed for your level range, too). :) (Source)

Aesthetic minor glyphs
We've enjoyed the few that have been made and really hope to continue on with them. A big issue is always time constraints, but the biggest hurdle is probably that we don't have the capability to alter spell effects directly with a glyph yet. The tech doesn't exist for us. Swapping out models, like the two you mentioned, are somewhat easy as long as we like the actual effect and want it in the game. Changing fire to be colored green though, while awesome, isn't as easy.

Some of the things you mentioned are certainly possible, some are quite like never going to happen, and some we just need the tech to pull it off. :)

We do indeed though hope to keep adding aesthetic minor glyphs. (Source)

Upcoming realm status page
The page itself has undergone some key improvements. Realms will now be sortable by status, name, type (Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP), population, locale (i.e. time zones: Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern), and current queue. Also, when you're logged in, there will be a separate tab that will display the most relevant realms based on where your characters are, allowing you to quickly reference the status of the realms on which you play. :) (Source)

[Moleculor]

My prediction is that SC2 Phoenix is SC1 reborn in the SC2 engine, with SC2 voice actors, etc. Possibly even SC2 design philosophies (so it won't be a redo of the missions themselves, as those were all "build base, kill base", but will do different types of missions while retaining the storyline).

[Ttam]

looks fancy, may see an emerald dream afterall.

[Phoenixian]

So ummmm ahhh.......whos gonna kill the kittens if u post it on Official forums or use it as a fact?

[Marooned]

Titans :O

[Bronjahm]

This is a pretty damn big deal. Is it even legal to be posting that chart? Lol

[Nightfiire]

So would this imply a stopping point or just a short time frame graph?

[Bronjahm]

So would this imply a stopping point or just a short time frame graph?

I doubt they can just infinitely predict what games/xpacs they will be coming out with in certain years :P

[Solstark]

Interesting piece of information indeed.

[Marooned]

mmo-c be prepared for : "NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED" thats too much to leak!

[Mr_Bojangles]

I feel like many of those titles are rather moot, because anyone posting over 10k times is bound to make some amazing post that gets them a custom title from a mod.

Edit: Also, theres gonna be a shitstorm over keyboard turner, from the keyboard turners claiming it's just as good as binding. I personally think it's a hilariously fitting title.

[Simca]

So ummmm ahhh.......whos gonna kill the kittens if u post it on Official forums or use it as a fact?

Sunshine will!

I question whether a company like Blizzard would even TRY to predict releases 5 years out, but the stuff in the immediate future is likely true. :]

Edit: I mean, then again, it's not like it's surprising or hard to write up a tentative schedule. They just ask themselves "How many expansions do we want and how long should be between them?"

Dev team says "2 and 1.5 years", boom, very early schedule created.

It's probably all true.

[Diaxx]

Im so excited

[mistuhbull]

Boub you just turned this from a random picture into a new "List"

May god have mercy on these forums and all forums

[Dare]

Well well, Titans, eh?

/ponder

[Meerah]

WikiLeaks for geeks.
(and damn, Diablo is far far away ...)

[Mr_Bojangles]

I question whether a company like Blizzard would even TRY to predict releases 5 years out, but the stuff in the immediate future is likely true. :]

Don't forget that this schedule hasn't been applied to Blizzard time yet, so when you do the conversion, the end of 2012 is ~ 2014, and 2015 is code for 'canceled project'.

[LFox]

I doubt Blizzard would be dumb enough to say "take it down". If they do that's pretty much confirming that it's real. Still the dates look pretty reasonable. It's not like its anything mindblowing.

[Knirps]

The number one, best part about instances is that you get a big boost. No one wants to run them 15 times an hour to break even to questing. I have never heard someone legitamitly and seriously say, 'OMG those instance quests gave me SO much exp, I am so infuriated that my orange quests from the area I was in are now yellow or green and that I might have to spend less time completing them to move on to the next zone to level up more even though I got an awesome boost from an easy instance...........whhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?' See, even in that scenario, it's impossible for that hypothetical person to even imagine not liking the, basically, one time extra boost that instance quests give.

But no. Thanks Blizz. I understand wanting to force people to view as much as your crappy new water effects by leveling as slowly as possible and having no survivability whatsoever, but can you give us a break? Maybe a 12% break?

[pantyninja]

So, I'll just go ahead and say it....how do we know this wasn't buried deep in the 251,287 leaked documents from that whole Wikileaks thing.?....just saying