MoP: War: is it really? Or is it fake?

[chaos5061]

We will soon begin limited testing on updates to some Battle.net functionality (mainly communication and login). As a part of this process, you may notice some minor Battle.net-related UI changes while logged in to Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and StarCraft II.

Patch 1.0.6 for Diablo III includes some of the data for this testing but will not impact your play experience. Similar testing-related data will be patched into World of Warcraft and StarCraft II in the future.

Please note that at this stage the testing is limited, but we’ll keep everyone updated and invite you to help us test the changes as soon as we can. We look forward to sharing more information about what’s in store for Battle.net in the future, so stay tuned.

[chaos5061]

Blizzard Registers Project Blackstone Domain
Fusible noticed that ProjectBlackstone.com was recently purchased by Blizzard Entertainment. It doesn't mean much yet but the choice of domain name could point to a side project for Diablo 3 or even pet battles (They also appear to have purchased WarcraftBattles.com last month).

We're mostly reporting this to have a nice point of discussion for it, but nothing really points to it being a major project (= probably not anything Titan related).

[chaos5061]

Brawler's Guild Invites
Brawler's Guild invites went up on the BMAH recently, so don't forget to grab yours. If you are hoping to pick one up off of the rare NPCs, you may want to reconsider. So far we have seen ~30,000 kills and a ~2.5% drop rate. Farming it may take a while!

If you want to keep an eye out for the NPCs while questing, you can use NPCScan and do "/npcscan add #### NPC Name", where the numbers are the NPC ID (H: 68319, 68318, 68317 and A: 68322, 68321, 68320).

[chaos5061]

Mining and Herb spawn rates in Pandaria have been reduced by approximately 50% in patch 5.1, and this is indeed an intended change. These are in addition to the hotfix that was applied in 5.0.5 to lower the spawn rate of Ghost Iron.

In all of these cases, the reduction was prompted because the resources were too abundant, resulting in ore and herbs being undervalued, and also therefore the effort that our herbalists and miners put in to collect each node. We’ll be monitoring the situation, though, and should the current rates prove to be too low then we’ll make further adjustments as necessary.

[chaos5061]

Right, so with 5.1 the game no longer tells you how many bosses are left for the group you’re being matched with for Raid Finder (LFR).

To explain why we made the change, let’s go back to the problem everyone was experiencing before. Let’s say a fresh LFR group is put together, they get two bosses down, and then wipe a few times on the third and lose 10 people who think they’re too cool for wiping. Now the group is down to 15, waiting for 10 new people, the queue eventually pops for those 10, and most of them see 2/6 and hit cancel. The raid still isn't full, the matchmaker has to go looking again for more people, and meanwhile as time ticks on people from the original run are getting more frustrated. Maybe a few of them leave, and then there’s even more spots to fill. Plenty of times everyone just gives up and the entire run falls apart, all those people are back in the queue, and they’ll be-damned if they join an in-progress run to fall apart again!

These kinds of things happen all of the time, and in the vast majority of situations it’s simply because people don’t like the idea of joining an in-progress run, even if it would have succeeded.

You may think we’re trying to be underhanded, but the reality is we’re trying to help people be more efficient with their play time. What most people don’t realize is that if they get and complete an in-progress run, the next time they queue they will preferentially be placed into a fresh instance. What everyone should be doing, to be the most efficient, is joining and sticking with their runs to completion. If they join an in-progress group they can catch up on those other couple bosses they missed immediately after, and if they have the time, they’d be wise to down the ones they've already killed again for extra Valor.

The patch has only been out a couple days of course, but personally I think there are some people who don’t realize yet how an in-progress run, and that extra Valor, can directly translate to improved items through the new upgrade system. An in-progress run is very likely better bang for the buck to your character power due to item level upgrades than hitting cancel over and over to get a fresh run and then hoping for a boss drop.

There are of course other issues that cause LFR groups to fall apart, like boss difficulty, and those are the kinds of things we’re looking at bigger solutions for. Losing a couple people doesn’t need to mean the whole run is doomed.

Can't people who just joined leave immediately upon seeing that it's not a fresh run and just queue again? I believe if a boss is killed you don't get deserter for leaving so this doesn't fix the issue you're trying to fix really.
There's a deserter debuff given if you don't stay and participate in the raid.

Let's expand your Scenario. I queue as a Healer, I get a group that is on last boss. We kill the boss. However, now I still need the first two bosses. So I queue and zone in, guess what? The groups is on last boss, the one I have already killed. So I drop group as soon as I zone in. Exactly what has this fixed?
Is this a hypothetical situation? If you're solo-queuing you should be getting a fresh instance when queuing again after completing the previous in-progress run. It's not an absolute guarantee, but pretty close to one.

What if you are valor capped for the week? What good does killing bosses again do? Or what if you have limited play time, and would rather queue once and get your LFR done in one go? This change doesn't stop 2/6 queues from showing up. It isn't going to speed up anything. Everyone who would have gotten a 2/6 and skipped it, is now forced to do that 2/6 and then hope the next queue works as intended putting you in for the first boss, and then dropping, creating another 2/6 for someone else. I don't see how that helps at all.
Matching random people together with differing interests, preferences, and goals is always going to mean people will be leaving when they feel they want to for... whatever reasons they deem necessary. If you want to have a group that's organized and sticks together, queuing to be matched with strangers has a higher chance of not offering that experience. What we can do, and will continue to strive for, is lessening the social burdens of being matched with strangers in an unknown situation and reducing some of the behaviors that may cause more degenerative uses of the tool - ideally through positive reinforcement, but that's not always possible.

In any case, I don't think anyone thinks any part of the game is perfect, and so much like everything we do it's going to be an ongoing iterative process. Feedback on what you think we can do to make things smoother for you is always helpful.

As one of the people who requested this change a month ago and is quite pleased with it, I'd like to point out that it's been working in Dungeon Finder for a long time now. Initially I thought nerfing end bosses in LFR was the only solution, to reduce the number of people who leave towards the end. But then it was pointed out to me that Dungeon Finder enjoyed great success simply by hiding the number of dead bosses on the confirmation screen. It's not some radical new change; it's just taking a successful improvement to Dungeon Finder, and extending it to LFR.

I'll add that it'simply selfish to want the freedom to leave raids early, but not also accept the responsibility to sometimes be called upon to finish a half-completed raid. Trying to only benefit and never contribute is cheating the system. It's standard game design not to reward people who try to cheat. Nothing surprising here.
You're awesome.

And you're exactly right, you can't have it both ways. Leave whenever it suits you AND expect there to be fresh raids waiting for you each time. It'd be great if that was possible, but it is an MMO with lots of other real live people playing. Ideally though cooperating to complete a raid is rewarding enough for everyone that it's generally functioning in a way that makes everyone want to cooperate.

I think the domino effect that this will cause will force most everyone to queue 2 times for every raid.
How are you not queuing twice, or more, waiting for a 0/6 run?

Anyway, there are still plenty of runs making it to completion, which means less people joining in-progress runs, and that only increases as people learn the fights and their gear improves.

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Proc Changes
I believe it's dancing steel not procing twice from dual weapons anymore, it justs reset your proc instead of adding a second.. Unofficial Spell Changes in 5.1....
The change to Dancing Steel is actually part of its status as a Real Proc Per Minute (RPMM) system, which was in the patch notes.

The Dancing Steel, Jade Spirit, Colossus, and River’s Song enchantments now use the Real PPM system utilized by Windsong and Elemental Force.

You can read more about how RPMM works here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6893549789#1

Dual wielding with a RPMM enchants means that you'll get double the frequency of procs, but the system doesn't currently allow for double active procs.

We're happy with how the RPMM system has turned out, and we think it's a stronger proc system than those we've used in the past, and offers more consistent results for players too. That said, we know that some players find double active procs fun, though, so we're exploring the possibility of altering the system to allow for them in the future.

Now, all of that aside, the original poster's issue was most likely associated with an issue that was hotfixed yesterday:

Mutilate, Killing Spree, and Fan of Knives once again apply poisons correctly.

Good news, everyone!

As I mentioned, we've been investigating the possibility of altering the Real PPM system to allow double procs. It hadn't been done previously due to technical challenges, but we found a solution much faster than expected, and we're currently working on a hotfix to allow Real PPM enchantments to proc separately per weapon.

Yes, this means that if everything goes smoothly, you'll soon be able to have two simultaneous Dancing Steel procs, or (very rarely) six simultaneous Windsong procs.

Indicator of Grand Commendation Effect
I just went around on my primary 90, buying up all the grand commendation I qualified for. As it stands, I see no indication whatsoever that they're in effect.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll bring the concerns for grand commendations up at the next developer meeting.

Brawler's Guild Rewards
if something is fun, does it always have to shower you with rewards?
This is a relevant question. We want the feature to be cool, flavorful, and prestigious on its own merits. As soon as we start tying awesome rewards to it, all the threads misusing phrases like "forced content" and "shoved down our throats" would start popping up for Brawler's Guild.

There are so many elements of gameplay that unlock pathways to flavor, prestige, and power rewards, to the extent that they're often viewed as mandatory by the experienced player who needs every edge or bit of bragging rights.

LMAO! You guys expect far too much from Blizzard..LMAO!!!!
If you think it's laughable, there would really be no hard feelings on our end if you decided it wasn't worth the time or effort to get in or participate in the guild. It's a niche feature that likely only a small percentage of the playerbase will ever take part in, or come back to regularly to reach higher ranks and much harder fights. Given common player perception about endgame progression and reward structures, I think we could use more minor, niche features like Brawler's Guild and Pet Battles in the game.

Blingtron Not Resetting
We're aware of this issue and are actively working on a fix. Thanks for your reports!

New Item Tooltips
I am giving it a bit of time before making a decision, it could be just a case of getting use to the new look.
I was under that same impression yesterday. Personally, for me it's still odd to look at my item tooltips and getting everything sorted out, but when I think about it, the new tooltips have all the information they had before, just a different layout.

In any case, please remember that it's going to be more helpful for the developers (and for us) if you try to put your thoughts constructively about why it doesn't work this way rather than a harsh one liner that doesn't have anything but strong words.

[chaos5061]

As disabling the red action bars in the new loss of control UI is something that some players would like to do but the option is not currently available in the game, I am blue tagging this thread for visibility.

AddOn:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?rstnhs03hiabt2g

Macro:
/run f=CreateFrame("Frame") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_ADDED") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_UPDATE") f:SetScript("OnEvent",function() for b in pairs(ActionBarActionEventsFrame.frames) do b.cooldown:SetLossOfControlCooldown(0,0) end end)

Script (put the script above in an addon you always run in its main .lua file):
f=CreateFrame("Frame") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_ADDED") f:RegisterEvent("LOSS_OF_CONTROL_UPDATE") f:SetScript("OnEvent",function() for b in pairs(ActionBarActionEventsFrame.frames) do b.cooldown:SetLossOfControlCooldown(0,0) end end)

[chaos5061]

Burning Treant Form
Druids with Glyph of the Treant got a nice little upgrade in Patch 5.1. Anytime they stand near a Cozy Fire in Treant form, they will catch on fire!

[chaos5061]

In patch 5.1, we resolved some issues regarding how Addons interact with the Battleground queue system. It is no longer possible to automate queuing for standard or random Battlegrounds in groups larger than 5. We decided to make this change in order to improve the experience for all players who are queueing into random groups normally and expecting to face similarly random groups, only to find themselves crushed by a full team of coordinated opponents.

We understand that players want to enjoy coordinated team play, and we invite those players to queue into Rated Battlegrounds or play Wargames to have that experience. Players can continue to use Addons to queue for Rated Battlegrounds as well.

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Hotfixes - November 29

Classes
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Serpent Sting damage has been increased by 100%, and its cost has been reduced to 15 Focus (was 25).
Survival
Improved Serpent Sting now deals 15% of its total damage instantly (was 30%).

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fire
The periodic damage from Combustion has been reduced by 50%.
The critical strike chance multiplier from Critical Mass has been reduced to 1.25 (was 1.5).

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Stance of the Fierce Tiger now correctly applies its 10% movement speed increase. It may be necessary to activate this stance if it is not already active to benefit from the effect.
Monks using Roll and Flying Serpent Kick will now move at the correct speed while holding a Battleground flag.
Mistweaver
The mana costs of Jab, Spinning Crane Kick, Soothing Mist, Crackling Jade Lightning, and Renewing Mist have been increased by 30%.
Soothing Mist and Crackling Jade Lightning now have a 30% chance to generate Chi when they deal damage (was 35%).

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Divine Star now deals 40% more damage and 133% more healing, and its radius has been reduced by 33%.

Quests
Players that complete the quest "Voice of the Gods" will now only receive one Reliquary Facsimile reward via mail after completing this quest.
The drop rate for Bilgewater Blasting Caps required for the quest "Siege Damage" has been increased.
Lieutenant Valorcall will now spawn for the quest "Sigil of Arathor".

Creatures
Alliance soldiers in the Krasarang Wilds are no longer confused about which side they're on.
Troubled Slave Spirits in the Ruins of Ogudei will no longer assist their own kind in battle unprovoked.
Fixed an issue that could cause Zan'vess Squad Leaders to evade.

Sunsong Ranch
Fixed an issue that could cause crops to become harvestable at inconsistent times. Crops will now always become harvestable at 3:00 a.m PST.

Dungeons, Raids & Scenarios
Several classic raid bosses have been adjusted to be more friendly to solo players:
Viscidus
Viscidus now remains frozen for 30 seconds (was 15), and it takes 30 hits to shatter Viscidus (was 50).
The Twin Emperors
The recast time for Heal Brother has been increased to 3 seconds (was 2).
C'thun
Players now have 5 minutes to escape C'thun's stomach and resume the battle before it resets.
Al'ar
Al'ar and Ember of Al'ar are no longer immune to fire damage.
Reliquary of Souls
Spirit Shock now has a 15 second recast time (was 0 seconds).
The Heart of Fear
Imperial Vizier Zor'lok
In the Heroic mode version of this encounter, Zor'lok will no longer sometimes spawn multiple Echoes of Attenuation, and will properly transition to his third platform when receiving sufficient damage to cause him to skip his second platform.
Wind Lord Mel'jarak
Breaking an Amber Prison will now always inflict the Residue debuff.
Mogu'shan Vaults
Will of the Emperor
Jan-xi and Qin-xi will no longer pause while executing their Devastating Combo attack.
Mogu'shan Palace
Elegon
Fixed an issue that could prevent the floor from returning during phase transitions in this encounter.
Temple of the Jade Serpent
Fixed an issue that could cause Wise Mari to stop using Hydrolance or Call Water.
A Little Patience
Fixed an issue that could cause Commander Scargash to become uninteractable.

Brawler's Guild
Disruptron Mk. 3R-Alpha's attacks will no longer sometimes strike spectators in the Brawl'gar Arena. His attacks will now properly strike opponents standing on the grates in this arena.
Dark Summoner's health has been reduced by 10%, and his damage reduced by 35%.
Certain short-term buffs, such as Bloodlust, are now cleared when entering the Brawler's Arena. Long term effects, such as Heart of the Wild, will persist.

Professions
Engineering
The Blingtron 4000 Gift Package now has a higher chance to drop valuable items, and a bonus chance to drop an additional sellable item.
Tailoring
The Imperial Silk Cocoon is no longer Unique.

Items
The Malevolent Gladiator's Ripper can now be upgraded via Conquest Points.
Bottled Tornado may no longer be used in areas where flying isn't permitted.
Using Bottled Tornado will now always properly put Rocket Jump and Goblin Glider on cooldown.
Blood Death Knights will no longer incorrectly receive Kilrak, Jaws of Terror; Scimitar of the Seven Stars; or Elegion, the Fanged Crescent from Raid Finder encounters.
Item Enhancements
Enchantments using the Real PPM system will now generate two buffs simultaneously, rather than simply refreshing the duration of an existing effect.

Bug Fixes
Mounted players can now correctly interact with the portals located at the faction daily quest hubs in the Krasarang Wilds.
Classes
Chi Torpedo, Halo, and Divine Star will no longer remove Stealth unless damage is actually dealt to the stealthed target.
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Disengage now properly removes rooting effects when used in combination with the talent Posthaste.

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fixed an issue that made it possible to detonate Frost Bomb twice under rare circumstances.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Dampen Harm now correctly only mitigates attacks that deal at least 20% of the Monk's maximum health.
Enlightenment is now always granted upon completion of Monk daily quests.
Gaining Power Guard will once again light up the alert on the Guard hotkey.
Renewing Mist will now always prioritize players over player controlled pets.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Holy Wrath now benefits correctly from Attack Power and Spell Power.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Shadow Priest Mastery: Shadowy Recall will continue to activate on targets afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and Devouring Plague when they move out of line of sight.
Mind Sear damage generated by Shadow Priest Mastery: Shadowy Recall has been increased to match Mind Sear normal damage.
The effects of Inner Focus will now always Fade after one Heal has been cast.

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Poisons will now continue to be applied normally while Shadow Blades is activated.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Unleashed Fury will now benefit only the Shaman who cast it.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fixed an issue that could cause Threatening Presence to be permanently activated for the Voidwalker and Felguard.
The Warlock's 2 piece Sha-Skin Regalia set bonus now properly increases the damage of the Malefic Grasp version of Corruption by 10%.

[chaos5061]

LFR Boss Status
The CM's on the US forum are telling me I should complete the LFR for VP anyway, even if I have killed that boss, but why, if I do one heroic a day and 5 LFR's that VP caps me (unless the cap has risen which I have not seen anything on) so why would i want more vp from a boss I've already killed even if that is possible which I don't think you get extra VP for killing a boss twice in one LFR lock out.
You get extra VP for finishing the LFR run you've been placed in, no matter if you've killed the final boss of that run yet or not (you just get 90 VP for the first completion and 45 for all the others).

Getting a queue pop for the last boss only, then queing again for the first 2, only to get the !@#$%^- last boss again.
If you get into an ongoing run and finish it, next time you queue, the system will try to put you on a fresh run. It's not 100% guaranteed, but that's what the game will try to do, rather than have you going against the same last boss again.

Does it mean you might end up keep getting 2/3 bosses LFRs? Or will you be sure to get a fresh run if you already killed the last one?
It might not be 100% sure, but that's what the Raid Finder will try to do.

But to give zero reward for staying in a group with absolutley no benefit to yourself is idiotic especially since you already took a hit first time and joined a 2/3 raid and to even punish those people is even worse.
If you finish that second run, you'll get Valor Points for it.

Old World Boss Changes
Are you sure? I was killed immediately when I was inside C'thun!
Viscidus, Twin Emperors, C'Thun, Al'ar and Reliquary of Souls should be easier to kill now. The developers applied a hotfix during the night. So, if you haven't gone to C'Thun yet today, you should!

Why don't you change Kalecgos? And what are the changes at Al'ar?
Al'ar is no longer immune to fire damage.

Regarding Kalecgos, at this point we don't know if the developers have any plans to change him or any other bosses, but we'll ask them and share with you any news if that's the case.

Yes, as paladin, I am interested in Viscidus changes as well.
He's now easier to freeze and shatter.

RoS won't cast Spirit Shock as often as before.

What about Razorgore? Last time i was in there i noticed his destroy egg ability had no cooldown and that you didn't lose channeltime if hit. But it was still impossible due to the amount of adds that spawn, before you even get to clear half the room Razorgore is dead.
I'd say you need to practice the most effective path and use his ability to sleep dragonkins. Razorgore can also take quite a beating, but at some point you'll need to clear adds off yourself and himself (careful of not blowing him up).

[chaos5061]

Daily Quest Feedback
Go talk to some congas, Mr. Brown. Your opinion is irrelevant.
Why is it irrelevant? I'm a player too.

The more I did the Mists dailies, especially after hitting Revered with Golden Lotus -- that can be a little tedious -- the more I actually enjoyed them. I've never been a huge fan of daily quests, but I seriously like the Mists factions (and dailies) more than any before them. I think there's a nice variety in the setup of each faction's daily quests (i.e. Klaxxi buffs, Shado-Pan companion, etc.) that doesn't make it feel too redundant. This is particularly true since I tend to rotate through a couple of factions week to week. With my work/life schedule I'm someone who doesn't always cap Valor each week, so I know I don't need to do dailies every day if it just means I'll outpace my VP gains. Right now I have at least 3 pieces of epic gear unlocked reputation-wise that I just need to save up for.

While technically you are a player in that you play the game, your opinion and the way you voice it is your job.
Hold up...

Let's get one thing straight. Sure, I work for Blizzard so you can accuse me of bias. But my opinions about the game aren't owned or operated by Blizzard, nor is it the development team's job to dictate to me what my opinions should be. I form my opinions about gameplay the same way as everyone else, though certainly inside info does shape them to a degree (almost always in a positive way like, "OMG, early patch 5.2 design is looking mind blowing!").

As far as enjoying the monotonous dailies the more you do them, I have absolutely no idea how that is possible. Every time I do one daily I feel my blood pressure rise along with my anger at the devs, CM's and people who defend the boring dailies.
Playing off of what I said above, I'll tell you how it's possible. We're discussing subjective elements of what is or isn't fun in a video game.

You and I disagree, and that's okay. But at least I acknowledge that your opinion of dailies is "possible" and understandable. In return it seems you're suggesting that the reason I have the opinion I do is that it's not my own -- that it was somehow force-fed to me.

Look, I've typically shouted down the "dailies are mandatory" whiners ... but for one reason only -- they didn't take much effort and I was able to "get rid of them" quickly. I'd probably feel differently if I actually cared about maintaining an alt.

But let's be honest, questing is the lowest form of content. It is boring, repetitive and not challenging. Dailies, in and of themselves, are just a miserable lowlight in what is an otherwise impressive array of content in MoP. The raiding, challenge modes, brawler's guild, pet battles etc. have all been excellent. Dailies? Not so much.
I just totally disagree. Solo content has come such a long way since vanilla. There are many players out there and in this thread, like me, who enjoy approaching an area filled with quest objectives, looking for the most interesting and efficient ways of tackling those objectives.

You can easily get yourself in gameplay situations that, while maybe a lot shorter in length, are mechanically more interesting than several Raid Finder boss fights, and require more than just your best standard ability rotation. Hell, there are mobs out there that have nearly as many mechanics/abilities as some of the Raid Finder bosses.

When I hit Revered with Golden Lotus I moved onto other factions while waiting for the 5.1 commendations to come out. My gear has improved quite a lot since I hit Revered and, when I went back to do Golden Lotus dailies last night, had more fun than usual pushing myself to be precise, ambitious, and ruthless with pulls.

My enjoyment of Mists of Pandaria has only increased over time, even with the few gripes I've had. I couldn't say the same back in Cataclysm. I still think it was a solid expansion, and I appreciate a lot of what Cataclysm brought to the game, but I sympathized with the people who were feeling burned out. For me, it just felt like maybe it was the result of playing this game for so long. I worried a little bit that my feelings for World of Warcraft were becoming inevitably nostalgic. But Mists changed that for me. The content feels like it just has more soul to it. I've seen a lot of people express similar feelings.

On that note, to the people who outright refuse to pickup quests from a hub with blue exclamation points: you're missing out on some great story and awesome content at Domination Point and Lion's Landing. I think it's a mistake to write that off based on perception alone.

Powershot Bugs
Just wanted to keep you guys updated, we're aware of this issue (when targeting a stationary target), it's already being worked on but unfortunately it's the kind of bug that will probably only be fixed with a client-side patch, probably with 5.2 (please note that this is a very early estimation of when it’s going to get fixed, don’t take it for granted as it might change at any time)

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Darkmoon Faire Updates
The Darkmoon Faire has started and Patch 5.1 added a few new things. The biggest addition is the new Darkmoon Carousel, which takes the place of one of the large under construction tents. It uses the nice new music that was added in Patch 5.1. Riding it gives you the WHEE! buff, which increases reputation and experience gains by 10%. Unlike some of the other event buffs, it does work with quests as well, so it will be useful for leveling reputation. This buff will last for an hour if you ride long enough but does not persist through death, so be careful!

If you are working on pet battles, the new Darkmoon Pet Battle! daily quest will let you fight a new pet battle trainer, rewarding you with Darkmoon Pet Supplies. The bag has contents that are similar to the Sack of Pet Supplies, but has a rare chance of dropping the Darkmoon Eye battle pet. So far we haven't seen one drop out of our small sample, so it is likely the drop rate is similar to the .2% of Porcupette.

Even if you aren't ready to battle just yet, there are three other new pets at the Darkmoon Faire. The Darkmoon Glowfly can be captured during pet battles on Darkmoon Island. The Crow will also be captured from battles on Darkmoon Island, but is currently bugged and uncapturable. The Darkmoon Hatchling is sold by Lhara for 90 x Darkmoon Prize Ticket.

Lastly, "Dusty" Brandom is now waiting for you at the entrance to let you use one of his Darkmoon Striders on the way down. This is the same model that is used by theSwift Forest Strider, sold for 180 x Darkmoon Prize Ticket.

[chaos5061]

As we've stated in the past, we want the Brawler's Guild to have that tight knit, underground kind of feel to it. So for now, it's going to be a lot tougher to get in. I'm sure you have other friends who would be willing to give you an invite for free or very cheap if they had one. As membership grows in the guild, so will the chance of one of them getting invited and having one to share with you.

Keep in mind, invites also occasionally drop from certain Horde and Alliance NPCs. Good luck!

New Character Models
New character models haven't been forgotten and are still being worked on. Our artists aren't ready to reveal what they got yet. When they're ready, you'll know!

[chaos5061]

Classes
Any thoughts on boomkins in pve? no blue responses on forums or mentions in patches. feels like we are being ignored as a com
"Ignored" got so over-used that it stopped catching my eye expansions ago.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Can't believe I spent all of last raid with Holy Avenger instead of Divine Purpose. Was testing to see if DL/FoL got the 30% bonus. Nope!
I could have told you that! No responses to my bug reports, tickets to tweets to @Ghostcrawler about how Holy Avenger is buggy.
Holy: Looks like HA works with ToR after all. I have concerns, but if it's already working and not abusive, we see no reason to remove it.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
I'm pretty impressed you guys aren't falling victim to all the people whining about warrior damage. They'll be fine in 5.1 imo
Hard for folks to imagine how 5.1 nerfs feel so people keep falling back to how it feels today. Still broken = nerf plz!

Character
Why a weekly valor cap? I have thought about it and can't come up with a good reason.
Without a cap, progression oriented players might feel the need to play every waking minute. That can lead to just quitting.

Regarding the alt unfriendliness of MoP. You created a huge requirement sink and refuse to address the elephant in the room
If an alt gets every accomplishment your main has then you have few reasons to play that alt. There has to be a better design.
I disagree Greg. I play dif chars because I want to play a dif class, not to get some achieves. Make them all .net bound.
But what are you going to do on that character if it has everything the main does. Just raid?

Sometimes I wish WoW had a class system like FFXI. Not saying it would work, but I did like that character devotion
Yeah that's the extreme, where you level the account once and then play any class.

From the alt discussion, sounds like many think X you only have to do once and Y you should do every character. X and Y vary of course.

Some view alts as new char to build from scratch. Others see as just playstyle change fr. main, so build = repetitive hassle.
Yep, I agree that is the basic issue. Just concerned that if we make alts too trivial to progress that we lose gameplay.

What things do you keep in mind when making the decision if something should be account bound?
Many same questions. Does BoA mean the alt has a leg up or the alt is "done?" Leveling alts with no bonuses worked for years. I'm thinking that the role of alts and which accomplishments (inc rep) should be on the character or on the account would make a good blog.

Isn't the reason most people roll alts is to play different class. Not for achievements
But with enough sharing and XP bonuses you're just getting every class if you max out one.

So its not OK to expect to be able to taste the content you just lauched?
We make content all the time that isn't available to every player ASAP. In this case, you'll get there at some point.

I'm a mage and my transmog is the 25m T8. Could we have matching belt/boots we don't have access to, used in game by Rhonin?
We're looking at ways to introduce popular t'mog items that aren't available anymore.

PvE
Why do nerf cleave on Garalon, it always worked the same, on Zon'ozz for example, why dont nerf it before?
If you get a 400% bonus, the intent is not that your cleaves get that bonus. Rogues etc should be desirable not mandatory.

PvP
I am getting 1 shotted by either a mage or warrior, when my life is at 180k (half).
That's not the conventional definition of one-shotted. Many abilities hit for 100k. It's when you get to 400k that no counter.
One shotted can also mean dying in one GCD, from full, or as near as as makes no difference. This DOES happen.
No, that's actually the definition we use (one GCD) but from full health and only vs one opponent.

Based on some of these tweets, I'm thinking some of you won't be happy until the only spell left in PvP is autoattack.
Nice hyperbole....I think most people will be content just not getting instantly globaled by TFB/Stampede type abilities.
Those at least mentioned by several players. If you look at my tweets there are demands to nerf Lava Burst, HoJ, Hellfire...

Thats akin to having a skill with 99.99% 1 damage and 0.01% 1M damage. Rare doesnt mean TfB is balanced or good design.
It's possible to step into Arena and be crit by every single attack, but we don't balance around what's possible, just reasonable.

If gladiator players who you always mention think tfb is op then how can you not?...300k in arena should not be possible. done
We don't let players, even expert ones, balance the game for us. We appreciate their feedback, as we do all feedback.
I respect you, Greg Street, but how obvious does it have to be? 1-shotting is not OK no matter how RNG it is. EoD.
I actually agree with that, but nobody is 1-shotting you with TfB (or CB). 5-stack TfB crit does what 250K? 2 or 3 shot maybe.
With everything up and tier 2 it can go over 300k; and heroic strikes not on the GCD so HS+MS = 1 shot
Do you get MS for > 100K for a lot? If it requires every cooldown + MS + mastery proc + 5 TfB then we're in the realm of videos.

Did you try the approach of Rock paper scissor for PvP ? Or increase it if you consider it live already.
I don't think RPS works for WoW Arena because you've already picked your comp. That does not mean strengths and weaknesses are bad.
RPS on the talent system can work though. Having to figure out which talent set to pick to best defeat a comp is great
I don't honestly think RPS is a great metaphor. Even in RTS, rock can beat paper in the right situations.

Future
Weren't they supposed to be implementing a "hide enchants" feature? Or is it delayed until Dance Studio?
Dance Studio is just a huge project. Enchants require new code, but not new art or design. Much easier.

Questing
Do you plan to do something with the daily-reputation system? Many players hate it, and want tabards back
Grinding a rep out in one night by running a dungeon over and over is probably never coming back.

Without tabard spam dungeons feels really unrewarding past 463. Used to do it all the time in Wrath, hate it now.
We don't think having dungeon rep replace daily rep is the answer, but maybe we can come up with a compromise.
Why not? Seriously greg, it worked well in the previous expansions. Gate it if you want to pace it, but it worked
Disagree that it worked. I get that it was convenient but queuing for instances doesn't feel like a persistent world MMO.

Misc
Do devs ever make changes to game based on their personal (Live) play xpr? Not to buff themselves, but just improve things.
Sure. We sometimes notice bugs that slipped through or just something that doesn't feel as fun as we thought.

Wouldn't this encourage people to buy from gold sellers?
We try to give gold value while the best rewards unrelated to gold. A fantasy world with no gold economy would be odd.

So I'm curious Greg, what other games besides Blizzard's are you playing at the moment, if any?
Borderlands 2, XCOM, a little Arkham City, a replay of ME3 and some dumb iOS games. AC3, Halo4 in the pipe. I play a lot of games.
Do other games affect your design philosophy? I was affected by the openness in skyrim. Changed the way i see games
We play a lot of game and always looking for neat ideas or features that become expected or industry standard.