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

[chaos5061]

PvP
When you or one of the blizzard staff mentioned the 30% healing nerf in Battlegrounds, I hope you mean hybrids only.
Nope. We suspect healing overall is too potent once burst is toned down. You shouldn't need to 100% CC a healer to score a kill. (Source)

Make PvP abilities a mod to PvE abilities = PvP changes isolated. Add PvP Stance for equipment/glyphs, fallback to PvE gear.
We make abilities work differently as a later sort, but I for one don't want to have to earn two different rule sets. (Source)
greg making two rule sets is the only way to fix the PVE vs PVP issue. have you not learned that yet?
Disagree. Also even if true, perfect balance gains us nothing if a bunch of players leave because the rules are inscrutable. (Source)

A flightless Tol Barad-type zone is essential for world pvp. Do you regret not making one for MoP or plan to make one?
We had done those zones 2 expansions in a row so felt it was time to let it rest a bit, but I bet we try them again in the future. (Source)

Why are the PvP achievements so limited? No 2,4k in 2v2. No 1k arenas won? 5k arenas won? Hot Hot Hot streak? #possibilities
We'd like to add more but we need to make sure they don't encourage strange behavior. Ach farming in PvP can get silly fast. (Source)

I believe an open mind is more important than a title, experience after that. Sadly, even glads can be very biased.
People who like to eat don't always make good cooks. That doesn't mean they can't tell you what they like to eat. (Source)
Do you take advice from a master chef or some guy who just happens to enjoy food?
Both. (Source)

So why nerf all specs? Reducing the benefit of mastery in PvP would fix resto, but ele isn't even viable pre-nerfs.
We don't think it's all about the healing, and Resto PvE healing is fine. We think totems are too good. (Source)
people will stop complaining about resto pvp nerfs if you nerf frost bomb/ warrior cd stacking/ resto drood control
There are mage and warrior nerfs in 5.1. Keeping an eye on Cyclone for now. (Source)

I'm not giving up on skirmish arenas, never, ever. You know we want it. inb4 block :<
We aren't either - it's just not going to be super soon. (Source)

Everyone agrees with him/her. This upgrade gear thing is going to make people quit the game. PvP is dying.
claiming to speak for everyone always makes me suspicious. (Source)
well, not everyone but the majority i think. btw, i would love to have that pvp forum on the US.
just make good arguments and don't worry about invoking a huge crowd to agree with you. It's not a vote anyway. (Source)

Misc
MoP was meant to get people out in the world, PvP was supposed to be king this xpac. Why nerf guild perk Quick and the Dead?
dying is supposed to have some penalty. Since you have unlimited lives, downtime is the main one. (Source)

You ruined the joke just like you ruined Age of Empires and WoW...
Changes no one asked for - Rpg home city. Homogenic empires and Clunky/Bad combat. Quite similar to WoW now
.you don't get good games by just giving people what they ask for. Game design isn't just polling. (Source)
Look at League of Legends Mr. Street, I'm sure it'd love to beg to differ.
we're friends with all those guys. Pretty sure they don't turn over design to their community either. (Source)

What happened to balance/bug fix patches (eg 4.0.6)? It's frustrating to wait for next content patch to see much desired fixes
We don't characterize patches that way. There are big patches (new raid tier / PvP season) and smaller ones. 5.1 is the latter. (Source)

But there is something to be said about testing your games.
we do test our games. We have a huge QA department and we invite players to try out betas and PTRs. (Source)

just curious... do you collaborate w/ the other blizzard games, or does everyone stay in their own game areas?
We collaborate a fair amount. Great to get outside opinions and see how others solve problems. Several temp or perma moves too. (Source)

Regarding items that aren't intended to ever go into the game (i.e. heroic raid trash), why are they made? Just curious.
if we change loot tables late, then we already have the items ready. (Source)

... what to listen to, consciuously or not. You reap the results of that (horrible PVP, constant whines).
I read the role and PvP forums regularly. Feedback is always valuable. It just doesn't always result in immediate change. (Source)

You need to listen to the people who play this game even more than the ones who created it.
We do listen to them. We just don't let them order up game changes on their own. That would be interesting though. (Source)

Is there anywhere we can beg an audience with The GC with a longer character limit?
I'd love to in a theoretical sense, but there are too many of you and one of me. (Source)

[chaos5061]

World of Warcraft Fast Patch 5.1.0A Notes
Bug Fixes
Pet Battle Abilities that use a shoot or missile animation will now properly display their visual effect.
Disabling Loss of Control in the Interface menu will now also disable the red cooldown swipes on the action bar in addition to the notification in the center of the screen. Loss of Control Alerts can be disabled in the Game Menu by going to Interface > Combat > and un-checking Loss of Control Alerts.
When Loss of Control Alerts are enabled, the red cooldown swipes will not be displayed for abilities that were already on cooldown and in situations where that cooldown will last longer than the loss of control.
Night will now fall at the proper time on all realms.
Objective icons in Scenarios will no longer incorrectly persist until the Scenario is complete.
Fixed an issue that could cause crashes during Pet Battles.
Mac
Fixed an issue that could cause a crash to occur during in-game cinematics in OSX v.10.6

[chaos5061]

Ion Hazzikostas Interview
Today's interview is with Ion Hazzikostas (Lead Encounter Designer) on ConvertToRaid. A summary of the main points is below, but listening to the full interview is worth it if you want to hear the full answers!

• Looking back at the daily quests, anything that rewards player power feels mandatory to raiders, but this has to be balanced with giving purely cosmetic rewards. There has to be enough of a reward to encourage players to do some quests, but not so much that it feels mandatory for everyone.
• The Patch 5.1 daily quests took in to account the Golden Lotus daily quests that rewarded you with more daily quests and kept the number being added this time more reasonable.
• Blizzard wants to keep delivering content and storyline progression through daily quests, because it gives you a better understanding and connection to the faction you are assisting. Tabards ended up with the player running dungeons for rep and never learning anything about the faction whose tabard they had on.
• Valor Points being necessary for raiders due to item upgrades feels better than daily quests because of all of the different sources for earning Valor Points versus only being able to do daily quests for reputation.
• Brawler's Guild is working out well, with the limited invites keeping queues reasonable.
• Showing the number of LFR bosses that are dead was making it very slow to fill groups.
• The addition of LFR has allowed Blizzard to target Normal difficulty more towards organized guilds that play together regularly and use voice chat. Previously, Normal difficulty was used by both organized guilds and PuGs, which made it somewhat easier than intended.
• Staggering the release of the raids worked out well.
• Heroic Sha of Fear was a worthy end boss in terms of the amount of time it took to defeat. It is almost impossible to make encounters that the best guilds won't be able to beat in a matter of days when they are spending so much time raiding. Only 28 guilds have killed Heroic Sha of Fear so far.
• Larger patches in the past needed everything to be complete before shipping, which sometimes caused delays. With separate patches for raids and the other content, we are able to see more frequent patches.
• Patch 5.2 is coming Soon™ and will include a large and more traditional raid tier. It has been a while since we had a raid zone that was as large as Ulduar or Icecrown Citadel. Blizzard will talking about what will be in it and how many bosses soon!

Method Interview
Manaflask had the opportunity to speak with members of Method about their thoughts on the first set of Mists of Pandaria raids. They seemed happy with the staggered raid releases, pointing out that it worked as promised by allowing them to not have to try and do all of the bosses at once.

Method agreed with what Ion said in the interview above, saying "In my opinion the difficulty of these encounters are harder than ever, people are judging the content on the speed in which top guilds are beating these encounters when they shouldn't be. The quality of the guilds in the Top 10 now are so high it's impossible for an encounter to stay alive more than 1 reset unless its either bugged or impossible".

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Hotfixes - December 10

Classes
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Critical Mass now multiplies the critical strike chance of Fireball, Frostfire Bolt, Pyroblast, and Scorch by 1.3 (was 1.25).
Inferno Blast now spreads Ignite, Pyroblast, and Combustion to 3 surrounding targets.

Quests
The Mechanized Fire should now be easier to reach in the course of completing "Dream of a Better Tomorrow".
Players that have completed "Better With Age" and "Crime and Punishment" can now properly acquire the quest "By the Sea, Nevermore" from Zer'ik in the Dread Wastes.
Players on the quest "Sentry Wards" will no longer be placed in the incorrect phase.
The quest "Enemies At Our Door" can no longer be shared.

Pet Battles
The Battle Pet ability Stone Rush now has a 1 round cooldown (was 0).
The Cinder Kitten is now has increased health. It looks like that armor helps a little after all.
Several Battle Pets now appear during times of day more appropriate to their ecology.
Singing Crickets are now considered Rare pets. This change does not apply to pets that have already been acquired.
Silithid Hatchlings should now be less elusive.

Brawler's Guild
Fixed an issue that could cause Zen'shar's Eyes of Warding to persist after he despawns.

Professions
Alchemy
Players that have deleted their Zen Alchemist Stone can now obtain the Strange Spherical Stone to repeat the quest "Strange Spherical Stone" to earn a new one.
Jewelcrafting
Newly created Sapphire Cubs will now always be of Uncommon quality.

Items
The following PvP trinkets now have less powerful on-use effects and reduced cooldowns:
Dreadful Gladiator's Badge of Conquest
Dreadful Gladiator's Badge of Dominance
Dreadful Gladiator's Badge of Victory
Malevolent Gladiator's Badge of Conquest
Malevolent Gladiator's Badge of Dominance
Malevolent Gladiator's Badge of Victory

The following PvP trinkets now have a less powerful on-use effect, but the duration of that effect has been increased:
SI:7 Operative's Manual
Kor'kron Book of Hurting

Creatures
Various Hozen rare spawn creatures are now less likely to evade and despawn.
Clawlord Kril'mandar will now be visible to players that have completed the quests "Domination Point" or "Lion's Landing".
Huntress Vael'yrie in the Krasarang Wilds now properly offers Stable Master services.

Dungeons, Raids & Scenarios
Normal and Heroic mode raid bosses now grant 40 Valor Points each upon being defeated.
Terrace of Endless Spring
Tsulong
Elemental Shaman will now always be properly eligible for loot after defeating the Raid Finder version of this encounter.

Mogu'shan Vaults
The floor of Elegon's chamber should now always reappear after he is defeated.

Bug Fixes
Classes
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Pets
The Sporebat's Energizing Spores ability will no longer stack with other similar sources of spell haste.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
It is no longer possible to dispel or Spell Steal Xuen's Crackling Jade Lightning.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fixed an issue that could cause Rapture to stop activating normally if it was triggered while the Priest was subject to crowd control.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fixed an issue that allowed several spells and abilities to continue to be available while Hexed.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Damage from Rain of Fire will no longer prevent enemy players from capturing flag objectives.
Havoc will no longer duplicate attacks directed against targets that are affected by Banish or Cyclone. These attacks will not consume any charge of the spell.

Fixed an issue that could cause in-game cut-scenes to be skipped when sound is disabled.
Fixed an issue that allowed players below level 85 to see and loot certain Treasures of Pandaria.
Fixed an issue that could allow the Healing Ward provided by Vol'jin during the Dagger in the Dark Scenario to function outside of the instance.

[chaos5061]

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Patch 5.2 Monk Changes
The following changes are currently on the table for 5.2:

Life Cocoon will be undispellable and won’t interrupt the cast at the end of the effect (and players will also be able to jump as well).
We’re working to resolve the issues with Renewing Mist not being able to be used while mounted, though it will dismount the caster after it is cast.
Soothing Mist will no longer be able to be Purged, so it will work in a manner similar to the Priest's Penance. It will still be considered a periodic Heal.
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

CC in PvP
CC in general is totally out of control, too much instant !@#$ going on
We would very much like to make it so that more crowd controls start going back to having a cast time. We feel that instant cast spells should be something that's rare to see and we admit that they have become far too common.

LFR Boss Counter Removal Feedback
"oh no someone decided they didn't want to chaperone the mouth-breathing astounding idiots, we better penalise them for valuing their own time." Your logic, and apparently Blizzard's too.
One of the reasons why the counter was removed was to reduce the amount of players fishing for a fresh instance. It was something that was becoming an issue for all the players that were stuck in on-going groups waiting for new players to join.

When those groups were waiting at, say 2/3, the queue would start looking for new replacements, those replacements would see the queue and decided to skip it in favor of a fresh instance, creating and endless loop for the guys inside the instance where more people would leave as they grew impatient, making it harder to complete the run.

As it is right now, if you enter an on-going run, you're pretty much guaranteed a fresh instance on your next visit. In addition, the developers are considering adding a buff that players in LFR might receive if they wipe on a boss that would boost their stats, which they also hope it might help those impatient players that will leave their current LFR run after a wipe.

Future Challenge Modes
Will you guys ever consider adding more CMs, perhaps old dungeons like Ragefire Chasm/Wailing Caverns?
Actually, the developers would like to add Challenge Modes to existing dungeons from previous expansions. No timelines or anything, though, but it's definitely something they're considering.

Bonus Roll Feedback
While I understand that getting an item that you already have can be somewhat frustrating, this is actually nothing new, since the very beginning of WoW that players have been killing bosses and getting completely randomized loot.

The Elder Charms of Good Fortune are supposed to be an extra chance at getting loot, if anything, having this option the way it currently is, might be already too loot “friendly” in my opinion.

This option was added because we understand that sometimes players can be after a specific item (remember those Dragonspine Trophy hunting days…), this way they get to decide which bosses are the most important for their characters and have a higher chance of grabbing a specific item that they’re so anxious to get their hands on.

[chaos5061]

Character
RE: Player Model Upgrade difficulty; Greg, can you elaborate for laymen what makes the project "huge"? Implies more than skin.
Look at the Pandaren as an example. New textures need new models which need new animations. (Source)

I would say overall "too little to do" has not been feedback we have heard often for MoP. For Cataclysm, yes. (Source)

Can a new 90 alt catch up gear-wise this arena season with conquest being usable for item upgrades? MoP seems alt-unfriendly.
We agree we need more alt solutions. MoP was designed to be compelling without alts. That means if you have alts, there's too much (Source)

Hey can we get an option to mail guild invites to alts?
Would love to see that (with some kind of guildmaster control). (Source)

Yes that may be true but did you guys ever stop to think and listen to people saying gating isn't fun.
Yes. The opposite of gating tends to be epic grinding followed by nothing to do. We try to strike a balance. (Source)

"There was no alternative to the head enchant. There are plenty of alternatives to valor gear." what are they?
Killing raid bosses for one. (Source)

UI / Addons
The new item tooltips are a mess. Whoever though this looked or conveyed information better was wrong. Please revert.
We like it. Can you elaborate? (Source)

The addon that let us paint the world? That could've been fun, but you engineered the game to stop that.
it wasn't to nerf fun. It took all the individual responsibility out of raiding. (Source)

Talent/Glyph + D.Journal taint bug is starting to drive me nuts. Reload UI 2-3 times to use stuff Bliz pushed as key features?
Taint bugs are almost certainly caused by mods trying to access stuff they shouldn't. (Source)

Hey will WoW's taint detection be worked on? I am pretty fed up of my addons being blamed for things they don't even look at.
If the addon goes after a protected feature, it gets the taint. It's pretty cut and dried as far as I know. (Source)
75% of my raid has to /reloadui to change glyphs/talents. Taint spreads like defile! Very difficult to debug.
I am sympathetic, but we can't debug all of the addons players develop. There are great sites out there that attempt to do so. (Source)

Why are UX /UI changes slow in WoW vs. system changes?
Depends on the change, but UI often involves code changes while many class changes can be done through data (by designers). (Source)

Can we have a UI feature to show how much of an enemy absorb we have left to break through? Absorb Absorb Absorb isn't helpful
Yes that's definitely on our wish list. (Source)

[chaos5061]

Ghostcrawler Interview
Today's interview is with Ghostcrawler on Wowjuju. A summary of the main points is below, but reading the full interview is worth it if you want to see the full answers!

• Future patches will keep the number of daily quests added more reasonable, similar to the amount added in Patch 5.1.
• Having a queue and audience for the Brawler's Guild makes it more exciting; it isn't something that you are supposed to rush through. You get priority in the queue if you haven't done a battle yet for the day as well.
• Unless you are one of the higher end raiders, you may not feel that upgrading all of your gear is worth the effort, and that is okay. Upgrading is another way to provide progression throughout the expansion.
• The 10 / 25 man changes in Asia aren't a test for the US / EU realms, just a response to what players there want. No one wants to see 25 player raiding disappear though.
• Main-hand and off-hand items will be allowed to be transmogrified with each other, as well as any weapons that use the same animation. Things like staves and polearms, the one handed axes, maces and swords, and the two handed axes, maces and swords.
• Golden Lotus being required for other reputations was a way to reduce the amount of daily quests that were initially available to players.
• Horde racials are likely better than Alliance racials for PvE right now. Only the top guilds have switched for the racials, but if more guilds do so then the racials will be adjusted.
• Players can expect for Wrathion to call upon them during every patch in this expansion in return for increasingly more powerful rewards.

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Hotfixes - December 11

Classes
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
When Fire Blast modified by Glyph of Fire Blast is used to detonate a Frost Bomb, the resulting Frost Bomb now deals 50% less damage.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Taste for Blood now only stacks 1 time versus other players (was 3 times).

Quests
"Bad Blood", "Bloodlines", "The Korune", "Ancient Guardians", and "The Source of Korune Power" will no longer sometimes place players into the wrong phase.

PvP
The Battle Fatigue healing reduction debuff has been increased to 30% (was 15%).

Creatures
The Mogu enemies in the Ruins of Ogudei now drop correctly drop loot when slain

Dungeons, Raids & Scenarios
Creatures in the Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, and Ahn'Qiraj raid dungeons now deal damage according to their intended pre-Mists of Pandaria melee damage values.

Bug Fixes
Several abilities that should break on damage will now correctly have a chance to break when damage is absorbed, including: Psychic Scream, Hex, Howl of Terror, Intimidating Shout, Blinding Light, Frost Nova, Freeze, Ring of Frost, Entangling Roots, and Mass Entanglement.

[chaos5061]

PvP CC Feedback
First things first, I want to make sure you’re aware that the information below reflects both short and long-term design considerations on our end. This isn’t all on the table for patch 5.2 for a number of reasons.

To make this clear right off the bat: This shift of instant casts back to cast times is not just targeted at crowd control. We also wish to start moving some heals back to having a cast time rather than being instant. That said, we’re not necessarily planning on overhauling many of the spells and abilities that have been instant for a long time now, such as Hand of Justice. We’re looking at some of the big outliers that we see brought up a lot, which are instant-cast, area-of-effect abilities like Blinding Light, or Presence of Mind in combination with Ring of Frost.

We think that there are too many of these AoE CC spells at this time, especially instant AoE CC, which can create some frustrating gameplay experiences. Some other particular crowd-control effects that are on our radar are abilities like Blood Fear, which we’re considering redesigning altogether, and Predatory Swiftness in combination with Cyclone, which feels virtually impossible to counter.

While we are talking about cc what about having some more spells share DR with each other. A pala can repentance/blinding light/ hammer. No Dr at all. Why is it that fear and blind share a DR and polly/fear and cycone dont? and many more examples like this.
We’re looking at diminishing returns for CC right now as a possible way to help with CC in PvP combat, but it’s the type of gameplay overhaul that can be risky to implement in the middle of an expansion cycle if the change is too drastic. We are, however, taking a look right now at the DRs within particular classes, as well as special snowflakes like Cyclone. Either way, the design discussion will undoubtedly continue!

Pandaria Pet Battle Daily Quest Bug
If you’re encountering issues with obtaining the Pandaria Pet Battle dailies, the Grand Master Aki quest chain, or the Pandaren Spirit Tamer quest (started by Sara Finkleswith for the Alliance or Gentle San for the Horde), there is a workaround that we’ve had some success with.

Abandon all Pet Battle related quests and restart the Pet Tamer quest chain from the beginning (Audrey Burhep for the Alliance in Stormwind or Varzok for the Horde in Orgrimmar). This issue could be caused by making Pet Battle quest progress on multiple characters at the same time, and so we strongly recommend sticking with one character until the end to try to avoid encountering the issue again.

We realize the workaround isn’t ideal, and we’re continuing to investigate the cause.

[chaos5061]

PvE
How can we expect ilvl upgrading to affect the tuning of future raid tiers?
Philosophically we want raids to be more about progression and less about instant catch up. (Source)
Going back to the old model where you have to progress linear through the raids from release of current expac?
That's the plan. We have older Raid Finder tiers now to provide the necessary gear. (Source)

Appreciate Lesser Charms move 2 currency but 5.1 has filled that bag slot w Commndtions. Any chance they move to currency too?
We wanted you to be able to loot them from players, which currency can't do yet. In the future we should be able to. (Source)

What about people that want to raid but don't want to deal with dailies? Add other ways to get charms pls.
You can raid without charms. You will gear up faster with charms, which seems fine: you can choose to play more or less. (Source)

Using multiple charms on the same boss per week in lfr (by repeated q'ing) intended or bug? Same chance every time?
we're fine with it. You'll eventually run out of charms. Same chance every time. (Source)
Will that also worlk on world bosses like Sha of Anger and Galleon?
Not on Sha. When we made him spawn regularly, we didn't think infinite Charms made sense any longer. (Source)

Haven't killed Galloen yet on my server. Horde camp, etc. GMs considered a month-long guild summoning quest or the like?
G is supposed to be the rare boss that not everyone gets. We learned a lot from him and have changes planned for future bosses. (Source)

What's the limit for players inviting other players in brawlers guild?
I believe we started with 1 invite once you reach high rank. (Source)

Does WoW really need obscure glancing blows and crit supression mechanic? It seems really outdated like resists.
Yeah I could see an argument to phase those out. (Source)

How come we dont have the random fight in the Jade Temple anymore? The scroll of strife and peril. I miss the alternative boss
It had bugs we couldn't solve. We hope to bring it back. (Source)

Dont forget to offer alternatives to charms too. Otherwise it would not make sense since dailies would still be required
It's called "bonus roll" for a reason. You don't need it. (Source)

PvP
Do you have a stance on people queuing several groups for a random BG and using timing to ensure they end up together?
You mean using a premade to stomp noobs? What do you think? (Source)

Does Blizzard have plans to clean up CC a little? Getting stunned, feared, again and again can get a bit frustrating.
Most people don't want their CC nerfed, just the other guy. DRs might be a place to look though. (Source)
How would you feel about a bar that fills up and once its full you cant CC that player until its empty?
That's kind of like having one DR (maybe with more variation than just 50%) but we've considered it. (Source)

in the future, any plans for total revamp of pvp? i.e. get rid of arena/RBG(in current form) and implement new pvp structure?
We rarely scrap features and start over. We usually iterate towards what are (we hope!) stronger designs. (Source)

The "PVE vs. PVP issue" is frequently misunderstood and over exaggerated. A balance scapegoat.
Agree. Players would still be mad if we didn't change X, but they wouldn't have a reason for why we didn't change X. (Source)

Idea was: skills remain the same in both contexts; only changes in metrics are isolated. + Less testing.
We do that though. Look at PvP Power, CC durations, the healing debuff, etc. (Source)

Very well said, this game should be about constant steady pressure and healing, not burst.
well, burst should be a strategy too, but not the only strategy. PvP is more interesting, we think, when matches vary. (Source)

[chaos5061]

This Thursday we’ll be holding our first-ever CoveritLive chat featuring a panel of some of our most veteran customer support representatives. This is your chance to seek clarification on support policies and procedures, understand the philosophies that shape how we assist players, as well as meet a few of the folks behind those tags!

While this chat will be focused on customer support for World of Warcraft, our panelists will be equipped to field some questions about Diablo III and StarCraft II support policies as well.

When: 5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. PST Thursday, December 13

Panelists:
CS Forum Representative Vrakthris
WoW Game Support Manager Marcus Maczynski
SC2 Game Support Manager Angelo Concepcion
D3 Game Support Manager Andreas Unger
Senior CS Information Specialist Charles Areson
CS Social Media Manager Antonio Achucarro

Format: The CoveritLive event will be hosted right here as a moderated chat, meaning questions and comments from participants won’t be viewable to the public unless selected by us. Be sure to request an email reminder below so you’ll be alerted before it begins. You’ll be able to log in using Facebook or Twitter credentials, or you can create a temporary username within the CoveritLive client, once the event is live.

Looking for great stocking stuffers for your friends or guildmates? Blizzard’s got you covered. For a limited time only, you can snag the following holiday deals in the online Blizzard Store:

World of Warcraft Battle Chest for $5 -- 75% Savings
Cataclysm for $10 -- 66% Savings
Mists of Pandaria for $30 -- 25% Savings
Select World of Warcraft pets for $5 -- 50% Savings (Offer includes all Blizzard Pet Store pets except the new Cinder Kitten charity pet...but you should probably adopt a Cinder Kitten anyway since 100% of the purchasing price goes to a great cause).

Be sure to get your Winter Veil shopping done soon, though -- these deals end January 1, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

[chaos5061]

Ion Hazzikostas Interview
Today's interview is with Ion Hazzikostas (Lead Encounter Designer) by Method. A summary of the main points is below, but reading the full interview is worth it if you want to see the full answers!

• Item upgrades will have an effect similar to the Dragon Soul nerfs, making raids easier over time.
• The raid Feat of Strength achievements will be removed in Patch 5.2. It isn't clear yet if there will be progressive nerfs or not this time, as players are not stuck yet.
• Upgrading your items is meant to be a progression, but the new raid gear in Patch 5.2 will be better than your upgraded items, so upgrading everything isn't mandatory.
• In Asia, all 25 player bosses have 8% more health and do 8% more damage. They also drop gear that is 8 item levels higher.
• Balancing all of the progression systems for alts is something that is being looked at.
• Daily quests are being used to tell the story and get players involved with the conflict between factions.
• For now, daily quests will remain the only source of Lesser Charms.
• Ion is working on a post about some of Blizzard's philosophies in regards to tuning and raid hotfixes.
• Patch 5.2 information is coming Soon™.

[chaos5061]

PvP on PvP Servers
I could try to reword a previous post by Daxx, but I'll just link it here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...2467?page=5#85

The only thing I'd add to that is something I said over and over during BC when the big complaint was about Halaa: world PvP is not fair. We're not limiting who can do it, or in what amounts, and inherently some people will want to gank lower level players. Of course we later added areas like Wintergrasp and Tol Barad which attempted to balance the sides, but outside of those, world PvP is inherently unfair. Whether factions are imbalanced, or it's just a coward looking to trounce lowbies and run at the sight of an even-leveled player, world PvP is not fair. We've got battlegrounds and arenas if you want matched fights, and you can level almost exclusively in battlegrounds all the way to 90 if you want to, or dungeons for that matter.

The big issue here as I see it is that, and again Daxxarri's post above says it well, PvP realms weren't really proper PvP realms for many years, and now that they are again it's catching people off-guard. That doesn't change that they're working again as PvP realms. In most cases there's a solution to being ganked, whether it's calling on guildies or people from your faction, or escaping and hitting a different zone, BG, or dungeon for a while. We do have policies for very extreme cases when it crosses into ongoing harassment, but even being camped for hours is something everyone should be prepared for.

As it's been a fact of how PvP servers have worked since launch, it's not too surprising that others will respond with recommendations against being on that type of server if you don't want to accept everything that comes with it.

I like me some BGs, but leveling on PvP servers is just too frustrating. I've tried it, I hate it, and that's ok. It's not going to be for everyone.

Transmogrification Rules Feedback
They should never do this. many grey items are 'fun' items and are in no way suitable for transmog. We would see way too many people outfitted with fishes as weapons, pots and pans, wearing nothing but a thong, or whatever funky 'fun' item that is out there.There is plenty transmog gear out there, choose from that.
This. It's true that transmog already opened some doors to some very silly outfits by allowing green items to be used, so one could argue that we could simply extend this to white and grey items and let the silliness go wild in Azeroth and Outland. But I don’t think that’s what devs had in mind when they added transmogrification though.

It was supposed to encourage players to hold onto items with sentimental or aesthetic value. Now, I’m not saying that silly outfits are bad, sometimes I can’t stop laughing at some of them, it’s great fun, but allowing grey and white items to be suitable for transmogrification would probably be a bit over-the-top.
Personally I feel that transmogrification brought some coolness and freedom to the game but at a certain cost, everything seems a bit chaotic now. I actually somewhat miss the possibility of recognizing someone’s progress and gear by just looking at them, but oh well, I’m getting nostalgic here.

Also remember that we have the following note in our transmogrification rules “a select few of these items will be prevented from being used to transmogrify if they are inappropriate“, so if we were to open this up to grey + white items, I’m sure that this blacklist would have to become much larger and I suspect that would create too many exceptions and become confusing to players.
As always, we’ll let you know if anything changes regarding this though.

Season 11 Gear
Unfortunately the latest information I have is that the Season 11 Cataclysmic gear will probably only be added with patch 5.2, we wanted to add it sooner but we had some issues with it and had to postpone it.
Whenever they are added back to the game, you will be able to purchase them with Honor Points from the legacy armor and weapon vendors in Area 52.

Since Kris is saying that the gear is there, it's possible that the devs were actually able to add them already, I can't confirm this right now, but if they aren't there, you know when to possibly expect it.

[chaos5061]

PvP
Is there a reason why we can't have PvP and PvE gear more similarly? In PvE you are hurt by RNG and in PvP you have to grind.
We think the PvE way is better, but there is no good way to recreate that with PvP vendors and drops in PvP would be weird. (Source)

you made it so rep is easier to get on ALTs, what about conquest gear cheaper on alts?
We think something like "Valor of the Ancients" for Conquest is totally reasonable. We're discussing the right solution. (Source)

Hello Greg, I have a 2 part Question. (1) are you happy with pvp now? (2) Have you visited the arena forums lately?
We're never satisfied with any part of the game. Visit Arena forums regularly. (Source)

I think you'd encourage it, but others are interpreting your reply as being against it...which is it? oQueue = broken
We have no problem with queuing mods. They should still work. We do not like using them to get around premade rules. (Source)

Why aren't Blood/Prot/Guard/Brew players allowed to do Arena? You try to accommodate others why leave those 4 out in the cold?
Really hard to make Arena tanks fun for others. Guy who can't die or be controlled = max frustration. They have a role in BGs. (Source)

World
Did Bliz take into account the extra players CRZ adds when planning the spawn timers for rare pets like the scourge whelp?
Spawn rates are designed around intended populations not empty zones. May need to adjust some but rare is supposed to be rare. (Source)

Phasing really is pants when you can't help guildies out. Really needs a solution. Group lead should determine phase, maybe?
Yeah, would love a solution like that. (Source)

The label MMO is meaningless and people by and large don't care what you call it. They just want to have fun.
Disagree. It's not about labels. It's about feeling like there are other players in the world. WoW isn't MP but MMP. (Source)

CRZ won't fill up your guild or your AH. We know that. But it is a step. (Source)

Any chance you guys will respond the issues regarding CRZ such as: http://t.co/TmgGt8D9 and http://t.co/EK36xrxS ? Thanks
Gathering and rare spawn numbers assume competition with other players. "I have a zone to myself" isn't our vision for WoW. (Source)

Why is this sudden aversion to instanced content Greg? Why is so bad that someon doesnt want to be in the world?
.We have a ton of instanced content. We just don't want it all to be, which is how Cataclysm felt. Instance != MMO IMO. (Source)
Waiting in line for your turn at the Brawler's Guild != MMO either, I'd say.
Disagree. It's the definition of other players existing being a thing. Instanced brawls would be != MMO in my book. (Source)
You are vanguard in the MMO genre. If most of your players in the MMO like instanced content over the alternatives
the feedback we heard from Cataclysm was NOT "I want to stand around in cities and queue more." (Source)
I don't imagine you recieved much feedback saying MAKE JUSTICE POINTS VIRTUALLY WORTHLESS and yet here we are
I think in your mind feedback = do what players say. We use feedback to make informed decisions, but we still make them. (Source)

Couple questions I'd answer first about Silvermoon flying. Will new tech make it easier? Is it just a slight inconvenience?
New tech won't help, just tons of art time to make the city hook up for real. It would take as much time as making a new city. (Source)

Reputation / Questing
What are the chances that reputation commendations will be implemented for past factions, such as those in old expansions?
Let's see how these work out, but possibly. (Source)

For 5.1 can we have a short term (20min?) LFR buff that simulates the rep tabards for the last rep we did dailies with today?
Talking about some ideas. So long as someone can't finish rep in one weekend by chain running, we're open to it. (Source)
What about "Rest XP" for gaining Reputation via Tabards? The less you use it, the more you can gather (to a point).
Yeah, that idea comes up a lot. We like it. (Source)

Wowhead has 57844 openings for the Blingtron package and no mounts yet. Is there an issue or droprate really that tiny?
But that would spoil the surprise... (Source)

Misc
I always wondered, can you be 'ordered' to go on twitter for work purposes, such as looking for bugs found by players?
Nobody tells me to go to the forums / twitter. I do it because I value the feedback and to help give something back to you. (Source)

Do you guys ever discuss class changes with popular theorycrafters?
Yes. (Source)

"consensus" is subjective and vague without numerical data. It's not just GC making/suggesting changes. "Dev TEAM".
Yes, and one of the reasons we have a dev team that works together closely is to guard against potential bias. (Source)

You only try to milk longer sub times for a minimal amount of work. Since most of the wow team works on titan
two incorrect / uninformed assumptions I'm afraid. (Source)

We are here again, where you claim to be right only falling back on authority. Why should we just accept without any evidence?
Having to convince players to let us make the changes we want to make isn't going to be an efficient way to design. (Source)

[chaos5061]

Patch 5.1 Golden Lotus Changes
One thing that changed in Patch 5.1 was the amount of Golden Lotus sold by the Spirit of Harmony vendors, being reduced from 3 to 2 per Spirit of Harmony.

The other change is the increased drop rate of Golden Lotus from Enigma Seeds. Before Patch 5.1, Golden Lotus had a fairly low drop rate, making it more efficient to farm through the Spirit of Harmony Vendors and Songbell Seeds.

After the reduction in the amount you get when trading in Spirit of Harmony and the increased drop rate of Golden Lotus from Enigma Seeds it is now more efficient to plant Enigma Seeds!

One other small change you may not have noticed in Patch 5.1 notes is the Growing buff that tells you how long your crops need to grow before they are ready for harvesting.