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Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

Re: Today's MMO Champion RSS Feed

3/21 3:04a

Heroic Dark Animus Video, ToT Progression, Oondasta Spawn Rate, Blue Posts, Comic
"Ask the Devs" Round 2: Itemization - Answers (Part 1)

Isle of Thunder - Stage 3 Unlocked

Heroic Dark Animus 25 Video
We finally have some videos of the Heroic Dark Animus encounter! It took several days for guilds to defeat this encounter, making it the hardest fight so far. Icy Veins has a nice strategy guide if you don't understand what is going on.

Popout

Throne of Thunder Heroic Progression
Blood Legion and Method joined DREAM Paragon at 11/13 today! You can keep up with the kills on Manaflask, our forum thread, and WowProgress.

Zandalari Warbringers Hotfix Clarification
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Ok, here is clarification from Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas (Watcher) regarding the change to Zandalari Warbringers.

Yes, it’s intentional. Zandalari Warscouts are supposed to be difficult solo encounters; you can use various control mechanics on them.
Zandalari Warbringers, however, are designed for groups of players. They’re immune to snares and other control effects for the same reason that most 5-player dungeon bosses are: those effects would make the encounter easier than intended. Grab some friends, or invite the people camping the spawn to join your group, and you should be just fine.

In summary, it is dangerous to go alone. Bringing friends should make taking down a Warbringer much more manageable.

Was making Horrific Visage uninterruptabale also intended?
Bring a friend with a dispel magic ability to counter Horrific Visage's fear effect.

Oondasta Spawn Rate Increased
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I'd like to have an elite world boss not a rare world boss
Agreed, this is an amazing fight of epic proportions and really tiny arms. We definitely want players to have more chances to experience it. The epicness should be about fighting it, not about finding when it spawns, even though that can also be somewhat fun as long as the timer is not so long that it gets frustrating.

You should be able to find Mr. “Tiny Hands” Oondasta a bit more often now.

djlar
join:2009-04-23
799228

djlar

Member

A pretty good reason wanting to solo warscouts: I don't think they share loot, do they? like the island rares? if they do I'll group in no time and people would invite more people to kill them instead of camping the site and trying to solo them..

Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

3/22 post.

Item Upgrades in Patch 5.3
Hearthstone - WoW CCG Game Announced

Item Upgrades in Patch 5.3
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As you’re probably aware we introduced a new system in 5.1 which allowed you to upgrade some gear a few items levels at a time by paying with the PvE (Valor/Justice) and PvP (Conquest/Honor) currencies. In 5.2 the Voidbinders (NPCs who perform item upgrades) took a break to let people focus on just acquiring new items with their points. It also gave us time to evaluate the system, and decide how we want to continue supporting it.

PvE Item Upgrades in 5.3:
Voidbinders will return to their places in capital cities and shrines.
Items upgradable by Valor now require 250 Valor to upgrade per 4 item levels, for a total of 500 Valor for 8 item levels per item.
This is retroactive to all items that use Valor.
5.2 Justice items now require 750 Justice to upgrade per 8 item levels, for a total of 750 Justice for 8 item levels per item.
This is retroactive to all items that use Justice.
This is higher than Valor to account for the increased acquisition rate of Justice since patch 5.2.

We still like the upgrade system for PvE as a way to make steady progression against bosses you can’t quite kill yet. You very predictably earn Valor every day, and use that Valor toward increasing your character’s power and overcoming an obstacle. It’s also good that Valor always has a use; it’s a currency we always want to be valuable regardless of where you are in progression.

The thing we didn’t like about item upgrades previously was that it created these rather brutal decisions where you were essentially betting against yourself, or having to offload large sums of Valor to keep from capping. If you just got a belt, but next week you’re going up against a Heroic boss that drops a best-in-slot belt for you, you might bet that you’ll get that belt and so you’d wait to upgrade it. But that’s complicated by the issue of being Valor capped and needing to spend some. So you dump Valor on upgrading a different slot and just hope you don’t replace that one instead.

In 5.3 the costs are dramatically cut to the point that these decisions are far less brutal, and you can pretty easily upgrade every slot instead of hedging bets against specific slots being replaced or not. In the example above you could go ahead and fully upgrade that new belt for only 500 Valor, as opposed to the 1500 it would have cost you before.

PvP Item Upgrades in 5.3:
Malevolent Gladiator’s Conquest (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
Dreadful Gladiator’s Honor (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
No other PvP items are upgradable, and no new PvP items for the foreseeable future will use the upgrade system.

It shouldn’t be too surprising, given that we’ve already come out and said it some weeks ago, that item upgrades are essentially not coming back for PvP. It’s something a lot of PvPers asked that we remove, it’s something we didn’t feel worked out too well, and so unsurprisingly the result is that it isn’t coming back. We’re still probably going to allow the Season 12 items that had previous upgradability to remain upgradable, as noted in the bullets above, but it’s not something we’re absolutely certain about at this moment. We’ll let you know if that changes.

Because gearing in PvP is based almost entirely on currency purchases, Conquest and Honor already always have a use, and we ask players to amass a lot of them to continue gearing. Honestly it was fairly unanimous that balancing the means of gear acquisition against upgrades just didn’t make good sense, at least with the current systems.


Carpie

Carpie

Member

Another 3/22 post:

Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Preview
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Patch 5.3 will soon be available for testing on the Public Test Realms! By participating, you can help us test new content before it's available. This patch includes a brand new Battleground, a new arena, new scenarios, assorted bug fixes, and more.

Please keep in mind that the below notes are not final, and a great deal could change before the final patch 5.3 release.

General
Please note: During the 5.3 PTR, not all the content listed may not be available for testing or may only be available during a limited testing window. Keep an eye on our PTR Discussion forum for details.
New Battleground: Gold Rush
In the new Battleground situated in the Valley of the Four Winds, the Alliance and Horde continue their war for Pandaria’s precious resources. While the two factions battle for control over mines, they must also protect their own resources from being stolen and turned against them!

New Arena: Shado-Pan
Gladiator hopefuls have a new location to test their mettle amidst the Kun-Lai mountain tops, in the training grounds of the powerful Shado-Pan. Players must make use of the looming tiger statues and fenced platforms to gain an advantage that will bring victory and glory!

New Scenario: Battle on the High Seas
Help your faction fend off enemy forces in the midst of a battle for naval supremacy on the High Seas.

New Scenario: Blood in the Snow
An agent of Zandalar has infiltrated Dun Morogh and rallied the Frostmane trolls. At Varian’s request, Moira will lead her personal guard against them once the king’s champions have stopped the magical storm protecting Shimmer Ridge.

New Scenario: Dark Heart of Pandaria
Goblin engineers have been excavating in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to find a mysterious artifact, but all they've found is trouble; you have been personally called upon by the Warchief to aid them in their hour of need.

New Scenario: The Secrets of Emberdeep
Infiltrate the Emberdeep Caverns and assist the Gob Squad in investigating a recent disappearance in Durotar.

Heroic Scenarios
A heroic difficulty for Scenarios have been added and are designed to provide challenging content for small groups of well-seasoned adventurers. Completing a Heroic Scenario awards Valor points, and a chance to obtain Raid Finder quality items.

Classes
Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
More information coming soon.

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Mark of the Wild had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 10%.
Symbiosis: Intimidating Roar had its cooldown increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
More information coming soon.

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Arcane Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.
Dalaran Brilliance had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Spear Hand Strike now locks a spell school out for 4 seconds, down from 5 seconds.
Windwalker
Legacy of the Emperor had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.
Legacy of the White Tiger had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 6%.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Blessing of Kings had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.
Blessing of Might had its mana cost reduced to 5%, down from 22.3%.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Power Word: Fortitude had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4.4%.

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
More information coming soon.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
More information coming soon.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Dark Intent had its mana cost reduced to 1%, down from 4%.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Vigilance now resets the cooldown on Taunt in addition to its current effects.

Quests
More information coming soon.

Creatures
Oondasta
Shiny Pile of Refuse now has a chance to contain a Primal Egg, and a number of Dinosaur Bones.
Spitfire Beam no longer increases in damage with each jump, deals a flat 200,000 damage(up from 150,000 damage), and jumps to 99 targets (up from 20 targets).

Pet Battles
Dueling for Pet Battles are now available in all dungeons and raids. Enjoy!
Seasonal pets will follow the pre-existing seasons starting in patch 5.3. Note that the existing fish are available for spring/summer and fall/winter. The pets are available only in the Summer and Winter seasons so the dates are not the exact same. (Source)

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Loot Specialization
Players can now choose to receive loot for a specialization that's different from their current class role. This feature could be accessed by right-clicking on the character portrait and selecting the option from the drop-down list. Loot specialization is available for bonus rolls, Raid Finder, and Pandarian quest rewards.

Raids
Bonus Roll
Protection for bad luck streaks have been added to bonus rolls. Each bonus roll that does not provide loot has a progressively better chance to award loot to the player.
Serpentshrine Cavern
For the Fathom-Lord Karathress encounter, Cataclysmic Bolt now deals 10% of the target's maximum health plus 500 damage, down from 50% of target's maximum health, the stun effect is now a Stun mechanic, and can target any player instead of only characters with mana.
Lady Vashj
Coilfang Strider's Panic ability now activates every 4 seconds, up from every 2 seconds.
Shock Blast's stun effect is now a Stun mechanic.
Tainted Elementals now despawn after 20 seconds, up from 15 seconds.
Tempest Keep
For the High Astromancer Solarian encounter, Nether Scryer's Domination spell now has a 2 second cast time, up from instant cast, and can be silenced.
For the Void Reaver encounter, the radius for Arcane Orb has been reduced to 15 yards, down from 20 yards.
Throne of Thunder
Amani’shi Beast Shaman no longer casts Chain Lightning while mounted on Amani Warbears.

PvP
A blog with additional information and explanation for the reasoning behind PvP changes will be available very soon.
All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%.
Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.
Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493.
Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512.
Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496.

Battlegrounds
More information coming soon.

Professions
Herbalists of low skill can now pick herbs in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield an herbalist will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.
Miners of low skill can now mine mineral deposits in Pandaria for a small amount of usable material. The yield a miner will be able to harvest from each node is determined by skill level.

Items
The Voidbinders are back in capital cities and shrines.
PvE Item Upgrades
Items upgradable by Valor now require 250 Valor to upgrade per 4 item levels, for a total of 500 Valor for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Valor.
Items upgradable by Justice now require 750 Justice to upgrade per 8 item levels, for a total of 750 Justice for 8 item levels per item. This is retroactive to all items that use Justice.
PvP Item Upgrades
Malevolent Gladiator’s Conquest (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
Dreadful Gladiator’s Honor (Season 12) items that have upgrades available are still upgradable at their original costs.
No other PvP items are upgradable.
Unclaimed Black Market Containers are now available on the Black Market Auction House. What's inside? It's a mystery! When opened, the container has a chance to contain any item that can be available on the BMAH.
Courageous Primal Diamond had its clearcasting effect renamed to “Lucidity” to differentiate it from other spells with that name.

UI
More information coming soon.

Bug Fixes
More information coming soon.


Carpie

Carpie

Member

3/24 post:

DREAM Paragon Heroic Lei Shen World First, Oondasta Hotfix, Hearthstone Gameplay
Console Version of Diablo 3: Offline Play, No RMAH, Not Exclusive to Sony, Hands On Console Gameplay

DREAM Paragon Heroic Lei Shen 10 Man World First
Congratulations to DREAM Paragon for being the first guild to down Heroic Lei Shen 10!

Oondasta Health Reduction
Keep in mind that Oondasta mechanics will change once again in Patch 5.3.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Lead Encounter Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas noticed this thread last night and has these thoughts to share:

Yes, Oondasta's maximum health has been reduced by 50%. The design intent behind this boss was for the primary audience to be guilds rather than pickup groups. That is why we placed Oondasta on a relatively remote island, surrounded by powerful elite dinosaurs that make solo travel in the area a dicey proposition. It's why he has mechanics that will outright kill you without the coordinated use of cooldowns, and careful positioning. It's a very different philosophy than our approach to designing bosses like Sha of Anger or Nalak. Of course, things didn't exactly play out as we envisioned -- as we all know, it was possible to overwhelm Oondasta with sheer numbers. While not intended, that was not entirely negative. There have been some pretty epic experiences on the Isle of Giants in the last couple of weeks. There's something to be said for the sight of a hundred spells and missiles flying through the air at a huge dinosaur.

We could have made a number of changes that would have made this approach entirely impossible: Consider a version of Oondasta with a Spiritfire Beam that could hop to 99 targets instead of 20, and a Doomwalker-style debuff that prevented players who had died during the encounter from re-engaging. Definitely not zergable. But that doesn't mean that people would stop trying, and the result would likely be a boss that no one could kill, and a frustrating experience for most participants. So we didn't do that.

Ultimately, while our server hardware is much, much more powerful than what we had in place during the days of events like the Opening of Ahn'Qiraj years ago, it still has limits. And what we have increasingly been observing was players massing around Oondasta in such great numbers that it brought servers to their knees. As word spreads that Oondasta has spawned, more and more people flock to the Isle of Giants for a piece of the action. Many people have been in Oondasta fights where spells took multiple seconds to cast, and the dinosaur perhaps stopped using its abilities entirely. Players with anything but the very best computers saw nothing but a slideshow. And in extreme cases, the entire continent of Pandaria crashed. That simply isn't an acceptable experience for our players, and so we reduced Oondasta's health, so that smaller groups are more likely to be successful, and he'll likely die before so many players arrive that it degrades the experience for everyone present. If server capacity were limitless, we wouldn't have made any of these changes, but alas that is not the case.

Oondasta clearly did not deliver on our original expectations. We'll apply the lessons learned from this experience to any future world bosses we add.


Venom14
join:2011-10-21
Augusta, GA

Venom14 to Carpie

Member

to Carpie
quote:
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Loot Specialization
Players can now choose to receive loot for a specialization that's different from their current class role. This feature could be accessed by right-clicking on the character portrait and selecting the option from the drop-down list. Loot specialization is available for bonus rolls, Raid Finder, and Pandarian quest rewards.

Raids
Bonus Roll
Protection for bad luck streaks have been added to bonus rolls. Each bonus roll that does not provide loot has a progressively better chance to award loot to the player.

^this and this

Immer
Gentleman
Premium Member
join:2010-01-07
Evans, GA

Immer

Premium Member

that's awesome.
djlar
join:2009-04-23
799228

djlar to Carpie

Member

to Carpie
Well we couldn't kill Oondasta last night, even with half the HP, we had like 4 tanks and 12 healers, 2 40 mans.. after a couple of wipes decided to kite him to the beach near the graveyard, yes, you can respawn there but the timers to res are insane, 2 mins waiting to res while the rest of the raid is being killed, not that fun.

Closest call was 15%, he had like 10 stacks doing 100% more damage. It was late so many people just quit.

JB9
Stay Gold
Premium Member
join:2009-05-14

JB9

Premium Member

That sucks, we actually managed to kill him on Saturday. Key is good tank/heals and having DPS wait 10 seconds for threat. (we didn't even have to use the GY rush strat)

Ofc I got GOLD! (didn't use a bonus roll)

Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

March 25th: (much lost due to websensed)

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16758
Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16758
Build 16758 will be deployed to the PTR realms soon.

Third Talent Spec
You can see Ghostcrawler's reply here. Keep in mind this old tweet though!

New Models
This is a very rough preview to hold you over while we make a nicer one!

Achievement Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Battle
Pet Battles
Brutal Pet Brawler (New) Win 250 PvP pet battles through Find Battle with a full team of level 25 pets. Reward: Stunted Direhorn. 10 points. Account Wide.
Deadly Pet Brawler (New) Win 1000 PvP pet battles through Find Battle with a full team of level 25 pets. Title: Trainer. 10 points. Account Wide.
Merciless Pet Brawler (New) Win 10 PvP pet battles through Find Battle with a full team of level 25 pets. 10 points. Account Wide.
Vengeful Pet Brawler (New) Win 50 PvP pet battles through Find Battle with a full team of level 25 pets. 10 points. Account Wide.

Collect
Pet Battles
Raiding with Leashes II: Attunement Edition (New) Collect all of the battle pets listed below from Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern, and Tempest Keep. Reward: Tito. 10 points. Account Wide.

Feats of Strength
Collector's Edition: Baneling Owner of the Startcraft StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm Collector's Edition Baneling pet. Account Wide.
Darkspear Rebellion (New) Aid Vol'jin's troll uprising during Patch 5.3: Escalation.
Darkspear Rebellion (New) Aid Vol'jin's troll uprising during Patch 5.3: Escalation.
Malevolent Gladiator's Cloud Serpent Obtain the Malevolent Gladiator's Cloud Serpent from Arena Season 12 of Mists of Pandaria.

General
Mount Parade (New) Obtain 200 mounts. Reward: Armored Dragonhawk. 10 points. Account Wide.
Mount Parade (New) Obtain 200 mounts. Reward: Armored Dragonhawk. 10 points. Account Wide.

Rated Battleground
Player vs. Player
Hero of the Alliance End a PvP season in the top 0.5% of the rated battleground ladder. requires 50 games played in the current season). Title Reward: Hero of the Alliance. 10 points.
Hero of the Horde End a PvP season in the top 0.5% of the rated battleground ladder. requires 50 games played in the current season). Title Reward: Hero of the Horde. 10 points.

Scenarios
The Few, the Proud, the Gob Squad (New) Survive to wave 50 of the Secrets of Emberdeep endless assault.
The Secrets of Emberdeep (New) Complete the Secrets of Emberdeep scenario. 10 points.

New Loading Screens

New / Changed Maps

New Items
There are a lot of new items, so head over to WoWDB to see all of the new items. Only non armor items are listed below to keep the front page length more reasonable.

Level Type Spec Slot Name
1 Other Gastropod Shell
522 Back Back Ox Cloak
522 Back Back Tiger Cloak
522 Back Back Tiger Cloak
522 Back Back Crane Cloak
522 Back Back Dragon Cloak
502 Cloth Spell Spirit Feet Modest Sandals
502 Cloth Spell DPS Feet Unassuming Slippers
502 Leather Spell Spirit Feet Treads of Respect
502 Leather Physical DPS Feet Self-Effacing Boots
502 Mail Physical DPS Feet Treads of Reticence
502 Mail Spell DPS Feet Unpretentious Boots
502 Plate Tank Feet Sabatons of the Humble
502 Plate Melee Feet Subservient Greatboots
502 Plate Spell Spirit Feet Boots of Boundless Patience

New Strings
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
BATTLEGROUND_SCORE_GOLD - Gold: %d/%d
BATTLEGROUND_SCORE_VICTORY_POINTS - Victory Points: %d/%d
BROWSER_CLEAR_CACHE - Clear Cache
BROWSER_COPY_LINK - Copy Link
BROWSER_DELETE_COOKIES - Delete Cookies
BROWSER_EXTERNAL_LINK_DIALOG - You are being redirected to:\n|cffffd200%s|r\nClick "Okay" to open this link in your web browser.
CURRENCY_GAINED_MULTIPLE_BONUS - You receive currency: %s x%d. (Bonus Objective)
ERR_LFG_MEMBERS_REQUIRED - You need a group of %d players.
ERR_QUEST_PET_BATTLE_VICTORIES_PVP_II - Players defeated in pet battle: %d/%d
HEROIC_SCENARIO - Heroic Scenario
HEROIC_SCENARIO_BONUS_VALOR - Completing bonus objectives awards additional valor.
HEROIC_SCENARIO_BONUS_VALOR_SPECIFIC - Completing bonus objectives awards %d additional valor.
LFG_TYPE_RANDOM_HEROIC_SCENARIO - Random Heroic Scenario
MAINMENU - Menu
MINUTES_SECONDS - %.2d:%.2d
OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_TARGET_CASTBAR_IN_V_KEY_ONLY_ON_TARGET - Only show the enemy cast bar on your current target's nameplate.
OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_TARGET_CASTBAR_IN_V_KEY_SPELL_NAME - Show the name of the spell on the cast bar on nameplates.
PAID_FACTION_CHANGE_ENABLE - Click to enable paid faction change for the selected character.
PLAYERS_ON_SERVER - Players on Server
QUEST_PLAYERS_DEFEATED_PET_BATTLE - Players defeated in pet battle: %d/%d
QUEST_PLAYERS_DEFEATED_PET_BATTLE_NOPROGRESS - Players defeated in pet battle x %d
RANDOM_HEROIC_SCENARIO - Random Heroic Scenario
SCENARIO_BONUS_CURRENCY_FORMAT - %d %s
SCENARIO_BONUS_FAILURE - Failure
SCENARIO_BONUS_LABEL - Bonus
SCENARIO_BONUS_OBJECTIVES - Bonus Objectives
SCENARIO_BONUS_OBJECTIVES_DESCRIPTION - Complete all of the bonus objectives for extra rewards.
SCENARIO_BONUS_REWARD - Reward:
SCENARIO_BONUS_SUCCESS - Success
SCENARIO_RANDOM_HEROIC_EXPLANATION - Using the Random Heroic Scenario queue will earn you extra rewards. You need to have a full group.
SELECT_LOOT_SPECIALIZATION - Loot Specialization
SELECT_LOOT_SPECIALIZATION_TOOLTIP - Your class specialization that is used when giving you specialized loot. "Default" is your current specialization.
SET_FACTION_LFG_BONUS_REP - Bonus Reputation
SET_FACTION_LFG_BONUS_REP_TOOLTIP - You can select this faction to earn bonus reputation for various activities.
SHOW_TARGET_CASTBAR_IN_V_KEY_ONLY_ON_TARGET - Only Current Target
SHOW_TARGET_CASTBAR_IN_V_KEY_SPELL_NAME - Show Spell Name
SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_192 - Requires The Thunder Forge.
SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_193 - You cannot use the dice again yet.
SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_194 - You are already a member of the Brawler's Guild.
SPELL_FAILED_LEGENDARY_SPEC_SWAP - You may not change talent specializations during a celestial challenge.
SPELL_FAILED_LEGENDARY_WRONG_SPEC - Your talent specialization does not match the selected challenge.

Spell Changes
Keep in mind that many of the Patch 5.2 hotfixes will likely show up here.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Mounts
Faerie Dragon (New) Summons and dismisses a Faerie Dragon. This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.

Companions
Coilfang Stalker (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Coilfang Stalker. Battle Pet. Instant.
Direhorn Runt Right Click to summon and dismiss your Pygmy Direhorn. Battle Pet. Instant. Direhorn Runt. Battle Pet. Instant.
Fiendish Imp (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Fiendish Imp. Battle Pet. Instant.
Filthling (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Filthling. Battle Pet. Instant.
Gahz'rooki (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss Ghaz'rooki. Battle Pet. Instant.
Lesser Voidcaller (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Lesser Voidcaller. Battle Pet. Instant.
Lil' Bad Wolf (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Lil' Bad Wolf. Battle Pet. Instant.
Living Fluid (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Living Fluid. Battle Pet. Instant.
Menagerie Custodian (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Menagerie Custodian. Battle Pet. Instant.
Netherspace Abyssal (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Netherspace Abyssal. Battle Pet. Instant.
Phoenix Hawk Hatchling (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Phoenix Hawk hatchling. Battle Pet. Instant.
Pocket Reaver (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Pocket Reaver. Battle Pet. Instant.
Tainted Waveling (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Tainted Waveling. Battle Pet. Instant.
Tideskipper (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Tideskipper. Battle Pet. Instant.
Tito (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss Tito. Battle Pet. Instant.
Viscous Horror (New) Right Click to summon and dismiss your Viscous Horror. Battle Pet. Instant.

Death Knight (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Frost
Icy Talons tooltip updated to reflect hotfix.
Might of the Frozen Wastes tooltip updated to reflect hotfix.
Threat of Thassarian tooltip updated to reflect hotfix.

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Cat Form movement speed bonus is now cumulative with most other movement speed increases.
Mark of the Wild now costs 5% of base mana, down from 10%.

Mage (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Arcane Brilliance now costs 1% of base mana, down from 4%.
Dalaran Brilliance now costs 1% of base mana, down from 4%.
Frostbolt healing and SP scaling increased by 15%.

Talents
Ice Floes now has a 15 sec duration.

Frost
Frostbolt damage and SP scaling increased by 15%.

Monk (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Legacy of the Emperor now costs 1% of base mana, down from 6%.
Spear Hand Strike now locks out spells from that school for 4 sec, down from 5.
Stance of the Fierce Tiger now increases damage done by 30%, up from 10% hotfix on live.
Surging Mist now costs 8% of base mana, down from 8.8%.

Talents
Rushing Jade Wind no longer lists AP scaling amount in the tooltip.

Windwalker
Legacy of the White Tiger now costs 1% of base mana, down from 6%.

Major Glyphs
Glyph of Uplift now causes Uplift to cost 16% mana, up from 6%.

Paladin (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Blessing of Kings now costs 5% of base mana, down from 22.3%.
Blessing of Might now costs 5% of base mana, down from 22.3%.

Priest (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Binding Heal now only heals two targets, down from 3.
Power Word: Fortitude now costs 1% of base mana, down from 4.4%.

Rogue (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Assassination
Assassin's Resolve tooltip was updated to reflect hotfix.

Shaman (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Capacitor Totem now has 10 health, up from 5.
Chain Lightning no longer loses damage on jumps.
Earthbind Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Grounding Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Healing Stream Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Magma Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Searing Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Stormlash Totem now has 10 health, up from 5.

Talents
Earthgrab Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.
Windwalk Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.

Restoration
Spirit Link Totem now has 10% of the caster's health, up from 5.

Warlock (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Dark Intent now costs 1% of base mana, down from 4%.

Talents
Grimoire of Sacrifice now has a separate tooltip for Demonology and Affliction, with the bonus for Demonology increasing the power of many of your single target spells by 25%, down from 30%.

Affliction
Drain Soul target must yield experience or honor.
Soulburn: Soul Swap (New) Grants the Soulburn empowerment to your Soul Swap. Soul Swap will instantly apply your Corruption, Unstable Affiction, and Agony to your current target without requiring them to be removed from a previous target. Warlock - Affliction Spec.

Demonology
Hand of Gul'dan now does Shadowflame damage instead of Shadow damage.

Warrior (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Execute (Arms) damage and AP scaling increased by 4%.
Impending Victory (Arms) damage and AP scaling increased by 4%.
Intimidating Shout now has a 1.5 min cooldown, up from 1 min.
Raging Blow no longer requires you to be Enraged.
Raging Blow Off-Hand no longer requires you to be Enraged.

Talents
Impending Victory (Arms) damage and AP scaling increased by 4%.
Staggering Shout - Damage caused may interrupt the effect.

Professions
Blacksmithing
Lightning Steel Ingot tooltip now reflects the 1 day cooldown.

Engineering
Stabilized Lightning Source tooltip now reflects the 1 day cooldown.

Raid & Dungeon Abilities
Air Vent A powerful A chilling gust of wind knocks you back. 100 yd range. Instant.
Alpha Strike Inflicts 15,000 Inflicts 10,000 Physical damage. 60 yd range. Instant.
Azure Blast The Azureborne Warlord channels its energy into an Azure Blast, inflicting 30,000 20,000 Arcane damage to enemies within 8 yards. Unlimited range. 4.5 sec cast.
Beguile Stuns the target for 3 15 sec. 30 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Binding Shadows The Bindings Shadows drains 5,000 4,000 life every 1 sec and root players within 8 yards of the target for 6 sec. 60 yd range. Instant.
Blaze The Blaze inflicts 10,000 6,000 Shadow damage to enemies within 5 yards. Unlimited range. Instant.
Blazing Heat Inflicts 25,000 Inflicts 10,000 Fire damage. Melee range. Instant.
Blazing Twilight Shield Applies a Blazing Twilight Shield to a nearby friendly target. Attacks against the target can cause a Blaze. Periodically heals the target for 20,000 10,000 every 1 sec for 6 sec. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Bleeding Wound A vicious attack that deals weapon damage and an additional 6,000 3,000 damage every 2 seconds for 10 sec or until healed to 90% of max health. Requires Melee Weapon. Melee range. Instant.
Blitz The rushing Blitz inflicts 30,000 20,000 Physical damage knocking the enemy in the air. 60 yd range. Instant.
Branded Tongue Deals 8,000 Deals 6,000 Fire damage to the target, searing their mouths shut. 40 yd range. Instant.
Burning Shadowbolt Inflicts 9,000 Inflicts 6,000 Shadowflame damage. 200 Mana. Unlimited range. 1.5 sec cast.
Cave In Inflicts 5,000 Physical damage. Instant. Inflicts 4,000 Physical damage. Instant.
Chain Lightning Inflicts 80,000 Nature damage and jumps to another target within 5 yards. Affects 3 total targets, increasing damage by 50% per jump. 50 8-40 yd range. 2 sec cast. 5 sec cooldown.
Claw Puncture Inflicts 500 Inflicts 250 Physical damage every 3 sec for 6 sec. Stacks. Melee range. Instant.
Cloud Burst Deals 18,000 Deals 10,000 Nature damage to enemies within 5 yards, knocking them back. Instant.
Confounding Flames The Confounding Flames inflict 6,000 4,000 Fire damage every 1 sec and Stuns the target for 5 sec. 20 yd range. 5 sec cast (Channeled).
Corrosive Spray Deals 7,000 Deals 5,000 Nature damage. Melee range. Instant.
Corrupted Flame The Corrupted Blaze inflicts 4,000 2,000 Fire damage every 1 sec and causes Burning Corruption. 30 yd range. 5 sec cast (Channeled).
Crane Rush Inflicts 5,000,000 Inflicts 1,600,000 damage to enemies with which it comes into contact. 150 yd range. Instant.
Crimson Shockwave Inflicts 14,500 Inflicts 10,000 Fire damage to enemies within 5 yards, knocking them down. 20 yd range. Instant.
Deceitful Blast The blast Inflicts 5,000 4,000 Shadow damage and an additional 1,000 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 3 sec. Stacks. 30 yd range. 1 sec cast.
Disease Breath The caster emits a plagued breath, dealing 15,000 Nature damage and 6,000 10,000 Nature damage and 3,000 Nature damage every 2 sec. for 10 sec. 20 yd range. Instant.
Dragon's Breath Targets in a cone in front of the caster take 15,000 8,000 Fire damage and are disoriented for 3 sec. Instant. 3 sec cooldown.
Earth Shattering The caster shatters the very earth itself, causing periodic eruptions that deal 25,000 damage and knock dazing and knocking enemies back. Unlimited range. Instant.
Earth Shock Instantly shocks the target with concussive force, causing 5,000 Nature damage. 4% of Base Mana 4,000 Nature damage. 20 yd range. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.
Earth Spike Inflicts 15,000 Inflicts 10,000 Nature damage to enemies within 3 yards. 40 yd range. Instant.
Earthquake Inflicts 15,000 Nature damage. Instant. Inflicts 8,000 Nature damage. Instant.
Electric Blast Inflicts 2,000 Inflicts 1,500 Nature damage, each stack of Overcharge increases the damage of Electric Blast. Melee range. Instant.
Erupting Fire The Erupting Flames form beneath the target, inflicting 11,000 7,000 Fire damage and knocking them up. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Fan of Flames Slices rapidly at her target with a burning fan, inflicting weapon damage as Fire and increasing the amount of Fire damage taken by 25%. 10 yd range. Instant. 50 yd range. Instant.
Fan of Knives Deals 20,000 damage. Instant. Deals 10,000 damage. Instant.
Feeble Body Increases damage taken by 100% 50% for 3 sec Unlimited range. Instant.
Fire Blast Inflicts 7,000 Inflicts 5,000 Fire damage. Melee range. Instant.
Fissure Inflicts 6,500 Inflicts 4,500 Nature damage. Unlimited range. Instant.
Flame Conduit The Flame Conduit inflicts 8,500 6,500 Fire damage to players within 6 yards. Unlimited range. Instant.
Flames of Passion Leaps at an enemy, inflicting 150,000 50,000 Fire damage and knocking all nearby enemies away. Unlimited range. Instant.
Flaming Arrow The Flaming Arrow inflicts 10,000 5,000 Fire damage. Unlimited range. Instant.
Flurry of Blows A strike from the Flurry that inflicts 6,000 3,000 Physical damage instantly in a 5 yard cone in front of the caster. Melee range. Instant.
Focused Geyser Inflicts 1,500 Inflicts 1,000 Frost damage. Unlimited range. Instant.
Forked Fire-Shot Fires several missiles, hitting 3 targets for 100 % weapon damage and then 8,000 6,000 damage every 2 seconds. 15 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Gathered Storms Deals 2,000 Deals 1,000 Nature damage to enemies. Instant.
Ground Siege The massive ground tremor Inflicts 35,000 15,000 damage and stuns them for 4 sec. 20 yd range. 2.5 sec cast.
Guardian Strike Inflicts 250% Inflicts 0% of weapon damage to all enemies in front of around the caster and knocks them back. Requires Melee Weapon. 2 sec cast. 8 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Ice Blast Inflicts 5,500 Inflicts 4,500 Frost Damage, slowing their move speed by 25% for 5 sec. Melee range. Instant.
Ice Comet Inflicts 300,000 Inflicts 250,000 Frost damage to all enemies within 6 yards. 300 yd range. Instant.
Impale Impales target with a spear, dealing 150% 120% weapon damage and an additional 8,000 6,000 damage every second for 5 sec. 60 yd range. Instant.
Impaling Slam Charges an enemy, impaling it and inflicting 8,000 6,000 Physical damage every 1 sec for 5 sec. 60 yd range. Instant.
Invocation of Flame Inflicts 6,500 Inflicts 4,499 Fire damage. Unlimited range. Instant.
Lightning Nova Emits a pulse of energy that deals 11,500 7,500 Nature damage to enemies within 10 yards. Instant.
Long-Range Ritual Lightning Inflicts 275,000 Fire damage to enemies outside 200 30 yds. 1.5 sec cast. 3 sec cooldown.
Mantid Munition Explosion Inflicts 47,500 Inflicts 38,000 Fire Damage to the target. 10 yd range. Instant.
Meat Grinder Inflicts 5,000 Inflicts 4,000 Physical damage. 15 yd range. Instant.
Meteor Deals 30,000 Deals 20,000 Fire damage, split between all enemies within 8 yards of the impact crater. 20 yd range. Instant.
Modgud's Malady The unleashed Curse of Modgud 12,000 6,000 Shadow damage every 5 sec to enemies within 8 yards and decreases move speed by 50% for 10 sec. Unlimited range. Instant.
Molten Blast Inflicts 12,000 Inflicts 10,000 Fire damage. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Mortal Strike A vicious strike that deals weapon damage plus 550 250 and wounds the target, reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 20% for 6 sec. Requires Melee Weapon. Melee range. Instant. 5 sec cooldown.
Overcharge Blasts an enemy with lightning, inflicting Nature damage. Inflicts 2,000 1,500 Nature damage every 3 sec and causes attacks to inflict an Electric Blast. Electric Blast inflicts more damage based on Overcharge stacks. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Overload Kazra'jin becomes electrified, stunning himself for 20 sec. and reflecting 50% 40% of all damage taken as Nature damage. Instant.
Paralytic Blow Dart Shoots a paralytic blow dart at the enemy, dealing 8,500 damage and then 4,300 5,499 damage and then 2,000 damage every 2 seconds. Also reduces haste by 40%. 40 yd range. Instant.
Paralytic Venom Coats the enemy with a debilitating toxin, inflicting 9,000 7,000 damage and slowing actions by 30%. Unlimited range. Instant.
Petrified Skin The stone fists of the Ascended Rockbreaker have petrified the targets skin, inflicting 110% 100% weapon damage and absorbing 20,000 healing for 8 sec. Next melee. Melee range. Instant.
Projectile Goods Throws nearby goods at an enemy, dealing 4,500 3,000 damage. 35 yd range. Instant.
Projectile Goods Throws nearby goods at an enemy, dealing 4,500 3,000 damage. 35 yd range. Instant.
Projectile Goods Throws nearby goods at an enemy, dealing 4,500 3,000 damage. 35 yd range. Instant.
Projectile Goods Throws nearby goods at an enemy, dealing 4,500 3,000 damage. 35 yd range. Instant.
Quills Inflicts 88,000 Inflicts 65,000 Physical damage to all enemies within 500 yards. 500 yd range. Instant.
Ritual of Bloodletting Causes the target to bleed profusely, dealing 8,000 6,000 damage every 1 second. 35 yd range. 6 sec cast (Channeled).
Rock Smash Inflicts 15,500 Inflicts 10,000 Nature damage and opens a fissure at the location. Unlimited range. Instant.
Sabotage The bomb explodes, inflicting 30,000 25,000 Fire Damage to all players within 5 yards. Instant.
Sabotage Inflicts 36,000 Inflicts 34,125 Fire Damage to the victim and all players within 2 yards, then creates four directional explosions that travel in the cardinal directions. Unlimited range. Instant.
Scent of Blood Deals 1,500 Deals 1,000 bleeding damage every 2 seconds. Nearby hungry crocolisks can smell your blood! You are a prime target for attack. Instant.
Seeping Twilight The Seeping Twilight inflicts 6,500 5,000 Shadow damage and reduces move speed by 50%. Unlimited range. Instant.
Serum of Torment Deals 6,500 Deals 4,500 Nature damage to the target every 1 seconds, causing them to flee in wracking pain. 35 yd range. Instant.
Shadow Bolt Inflicts 12,500 Inflicts 10,000 Shadow damage. 35 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Shadowed Soul All damage taken increased by 2%. Instant. 5%. Instant.
Shatter Shattering inflicts 150,000 96,000 Frost damage to all enemies. 150 yd range. Instant.
Shatter Shattering inflicts 150,000 96,000 Frost damage to all enemies. 150 yd range. Instant.
Siphon Essence Drains 9,000 Drains 6,000 health every 1 sec for 4 sec, heals for three times the amount of damage done. 20 yd range. 4 sec cast (Channeled).
Static Shock Deals 15,000 Deals 5,000 damage to players within 7 yards. 100 yd range. Instant.
Static Shock Deals 15,000 Deals 5,000 damage to players within 7 yards. 100 yd range. Instant.
Static Wound Jin'rokh the Breaker statically constricts the target, inflicting 20,000 Nature damage per stack when taking melee attacks. Additionally inflicts a third of that damage to other players. This effect stacks, but decreases in potency over time. Unlimited range. Instant. 3 sec cooldown.
Storm Bolt Inflicts 10,000 Inflicts 7,000 Nature damage to an enemy. 70 yd range. Instant.
Storm Cloud Deals 200,000 Deals 100,000 Nature damage, and will stun the target at 3 stacks for 20 sec. Unlimited range. Instant.
Strength of Stone Damage increased by 100%. Instant. 50%. Instant.
Supernova The Invoked Flaming Spirit goes supernova and inflicts 50,000 30,000 Fire damage and 2,500 Fire damage every 1 sec to enemies within a 10 yard radius for 8 sec. Unlimited range. Instant.
Swamp Smash A brutal overhead power attack that increases melee damage by 150,000. 20 yd range. 3 sec cast. 2 sec cast.
Tempest Storm Deals 9,000 Deals 6,000 Nature damage to enemies within 6 yards. Melee range. Instant.
Throw Spear The Zandalari Spear-Shaper throws his spear at a distant enemy, periodically inflicting 50,000 Physical damage to nearby players. Unlimited range. Instant.
Thunder Crash The unit releases a mighty burst of charged electrical energy, dealing 25,000 15,000 Nature damage to an enemy target. 40 yd range. 3 sec cast.
Tidal Force Inflicts 5,000,000 Inflicts 1,600,000 damage to enemies with which it comes into contact. Instant.
Toxic Blow Dart Shoots a toxic blow dart at the enemy, dealing 8,500 damage and then 8,000 5,499 damage and then 4,000 damage every 2 seconds. 40 yd range. Instant.
Twilight Blast The Twilight Blast inflicts 10,000 5,000 damage. 40 yd range. Instant.
Twilight Bolt Inflicts 15,000 Inflicts 10,000 Shadow damage. 40 yd range. 3 sec cast.
Twilight Breath Inflicts 20,000 Inflicts 10,000 Shadow damage in a 25 yard cone infront of the caster. Unlimited range. Instant.
Twilight Flames The Twilight Flames inflict 6,500 5,000 Shadow damage to enemies within 3 yards. Unlimited range. Instant.
Twisted Arcane The Twisted Arcane increases cast speed and Magic damage dealt by 50%. 10 yd range. Instant. 30%. 10 yd range. Instant.
Umbral Mending Heals the target for 20% 10% of their total health. 100 yd range. 2.5 sec cast.
Valiona's Flame Valiona's Flame Breath inflicts 25,000 15,000 Shadow damage, knocking the target down from the impact. Unlimited range. 2 sec cast (Channeled).
Ventral Sacs Sacs located around the frill will periodically erupt, inflicting 20,000 17,000 Nature damage to all enemies every 1 sec. Instant.
Vicious Bite Inflicts 50% of weapon damage to an enemy and causes it to bleed for 1,000 500 damage per application every 2 sec. for 15 sec. Melee range. Instant.
Viletongue Balm (New) Heals the caster. 3 sec cast.
Viletongue Rush (New) Charges forward, inflicting Physical damage to all enemies in the caster's path, knocking them back. 40 yd range. Instant.
Viletongue Strike (New) A brutal overhead power attack that inflicts 300% melee damage. 10 yd range. 2 sec cast. 8 sec cooldown.
Viletongue Torch Toss (New) Throws a torch, inflicting Fire damage to enemies within the flames every 2 sec. for 16 sec. 30 yd range. 1 sec cast.
Viletongue Venom (New) Inflicts 0 Nature damage to enemies within the cloud every 2 sec. and reduces healing effects by 90% for the 14 sec. 40 yd range. 1 sec cast.
Viscous Poison Inflicts 10,000 Inflicts 5,000 Nature damage to an enemy target and their allies within 5 0 yards, slowing their movement speed by 30% and dealing 4,500 2,500 Nature damage every 2 seconds. 45 yd range. Instant.
Wail of Darkness Inflicts 5,000 Inflicts 3,000 Shadow damage to an enemy. 100 yd range. Instant.
Wailing Winds Knocks the enemy into the air, dealing 3,000 damage. Instant. 2,000 damage. Instant.
Warped Twilight Inflicts Shadow damage equal to 30% 15% of the target's max health. 40 yd range. 4 sec cast.
Water Explosion Inflicts 50,000 Inflicts 20,000 Frost damage to enemies within 8 yards. 40 yd range. Instant.
Water Spout The Water Spout beneath the target, inflicts 20,000 10,000 Frost damage and slowing cast and attack speed by 50% for 6 sec. 40 yd range. Instant. 8 sec cooldown.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

Late 3/25:

PvP Gear in Patch 5.3, Patch 5.3 PTR Build 16767, Faerie Dragon Mount and New Models
Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16758 - Tri Spec!

Patch Highlights
PvP Gear Changes in Patch 5.3
Faerie Dragon Mount
Possible third talent spec
New items
New models
New pets in old raids

Faerie Dragon Mount

Popout

PvP Gear in Patch 5.3
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
There are more really big changes coming to the way that PVP gear works coming in patch 5.3. As you know if you read our previous blog on the subject, we approached patch 5.2 with the goal in mind of narrowing the PvP gear gap, as well as working to make PvP more accessible to all players, to broaden interest and provide a robust pool of competitors that enriches the PvP experience for everyone.

PvE vs. PvP
We face some significant challenges, so we’re prepared to take some unprecedented steps to meet them. Historically, we have always had a hard time balancing PvP gear against PvE gear, as these two areas of the game have very different gear design goals. In PvP, we want gear to matter, but we don’t want gear to become the overwhelming reason someone wins a match. For PvE, the difference in power between tiers has to be significant enough that players really feel rewarded and more powerful when they upgrade. This problem has been compounded as we now have Raid Finder, normal and heroic raid tiers, as well as item level gating to enter the Raid Finder.

Transitions: From Season 12 to Season 13
Patch 5.2’s gear changes represented our first attempt to balance PvP gear with PvE gear, and offer better ways to narrow the gear gap. We introduced the Elite tier of gear that would be available to all players after earning 27,000 Conquest Points throughout the season. This allowed us to balance Honor gear against Raid Finder gear, Conquest gear against normal mode raiding gear and Elite gear against Heroic mode raid gear. But, keeping pace with PvE gear also means that there is significant difference between this season’s Honor gear and the Elite gear. Not to mention that there is a tremendous difference between a fresh 90 and a veteran, Elite geared player. While it’s important to have that difference, the competitive nature of PvP means that highly geared players can serve as a deterrent to players who are looking into trying PvP for the first time. Trying to keep pace with the escalating ilevel of PvE gear has proven quite difficult for PvP.

Furthermore, as Season 13 has illustrated, having more than two levels of PvP gear can generate some significant issues during season transitions. Players expect that each season will start on a fairly level playing field. The presence of upgrades in 5.1 meant that some players now have a gear advantage over players with this season’s Honor gear. The presence of higher ilevel Elite gear has the potential to create an even bigger issue in Season 14.

Still, we think we’ve taken some great steps forward with PvP gear in Mists of Pandaria. PvP Power has given us an extremely useful ‘knob’ to turn so we can adjust PvP gear to make sure that it’s better than its PvE equivalent. Meanwhile Resilience, while well-intentioned, has actually made the gear gap worse over time. We think that most players would be okay with going into PvP with lower damage if they were a bit more durable. We believe that a broader population of PvPers will offer a better experience for everyone, and also provide a better pool of players as we introduce refinements to how Battleground queuing works in the future. One of the best ways for us to increase the number of players that participate in PvP is to reduce the barrier to entry for those who play World of Warcraft regularly but don’t participate in PvP. Specifically, we’re referring to PvE players that spend a lot of time gearing up in PvE but feel that PvE gear is a severe liability in PvP (because, well, it is ).

Incoming 5.3 Gear Changes
With all of this in mind, we’re making some pretty dramatic changes to PvP gear and the PvP environment in 5.3:

Base Resilience will be set to 65% for all characters level 85 and higher
Resilience will be removed from nearly all PvP gear
Players will still be able to use Resilience gems and enchants
PvP power will remain exclusively on PvP gear
PvP set bonuses that currently provide Resilience will now provide PvP Power
Healers and hybrid-casters will benefit to a greater degree from PvP Power, and Battle Fatigue will increase to make PvP gear superior for healers.
Conquest gear will be increased to item level 496 (up from 493).
Elite gear will be decreased to item level 496. This gear will essentially become a prestige upgrade.
The Big Change: We will be adding an item level ceiling to gear in unrated Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas
All gear will have its item level scaled down to 496 (Conquest gear item level). This includes even Conquest items that exceed the ilevel ceiling, such as weapons.

In addition, some of the changes that we’ve discussed previously will also be implemented:

In patches that don’t include a new season (including patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 7,250 Conquest Points earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement must always be met to purchase Elite items, though.
Once the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement is reached, players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear with Honor Points.
The Conquest Point catch up cap will be introduced. You can read our PvP Gear in 5.2 and Beyond blog for more information on these changes.

We’re taking these steps because we want to improve PvP for those players who love to PvP by providing a richer pool of potential competitors (which can result in faster queues, and open doors to queuing refinements later on), and make an incredibly fun element of World of Warcraft more accessible to a larger audience.

What to Expect
We expect these changes to have a few important effects. First, we feel that they will still preserve our most important design goal: the best gear for competitive PvP will come from PvP. Since all other gear will be scaled down to the Conquest’s item level of 496 as a maximum, the Conquest gear will always be better by a significant margin because it will have PvP Power on it (which doesn’t count toward the item’s item level budget). Even Honor gear, with its considerable amount of PvP Power, will provide more damage in PvP than normal and heroic raid gear. For example, a Heroic Thunderforged weapon and a Conquest weapon will be the same item level in PvP, with the same amount of primary stats, secondary stats and stamina. While the PvE weapon will do very good damage, it will still do less damage than the Conquest weapon due to the presence of PvP power on the PvP weapon.

We also believe that the changes will make it easier for those who aren’t PvPing now to give it a try or possibly motivate those that play only rarely to play more often. While they will do less damage than a player with PvP gear, they will have the same survivability, stamina and resilience. The damage differences shouldn’t be so great that they will be ‘insta-gibbed’ by the average opponent in PvP gear either. We expect the improvements will make PvP more fun for both hardcore players that want a more even playing field, as well as competitors that just want to dive in and have some fun without assembling a specialized gear set.

We Want Your Feedback!
This is a pretty massive change for World of Warcraft and while it would probably be more appropriate at the start of a new season, or even an expansion, we strongly feel that the current gear situation should be resolved quickly. We think this solution will help us meet our design goals and help create a more active, competitive, and fun PvP environment.

We know that concerns and questions are inevitable, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject. We invite you to try these changes on the PTR for yourself, and we’ll be watching for your feedback on the PTR Discussion forum and elsewhere.

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16767
Build 16767 is coming to the PTR realms soon.

Map Changes

New Icons

New Items

Level Type Slot Name
1 Other Gastropod Shell
522 Back Back Ox Cloak
522 Back Back Tiger Cloak
522 Back Back Tiger Cloak
522 Back Back Crane Cloak
522 Back Back Dragon Cloak
502 Cloth Feet Modest Sandals
502 Cloth Feet Unassuming Slippers
502 Leather Feet Treads of Respect
502 Leather Feet Self-Effacing Boots
502 Mail Feet Treads of Reticence
502 Mail Feet Unpretentious Boots
502 Plate Feet Sabatons of the Humble
502 Plate Feet Subservient Greatboots
502 Plate Feet Boots of Boundless Patience

Achievement Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Lich King Dungeon
Dungeons & Raids
Split Personality Defeat Grand Magus Telestra in The Nexus on Heroic Difficulty after having killed her images within 5 seconds of each other during both splits. 10 points. the first one dying during each split. 10 points.

Scenarios
Battle on the High Seas (New) Defeat Admiral Hagman in the Battle on the High Seas. 10 points.
Battle on the High Seas (New) Defeat Admiral Hodgson in the Battle on the High Seas. 10 points.
Blood in the Snow (New) Complete the Blood in the Snow scenario. 10 points.
Heroic: A Brewing Storm (New) Defeat Borokhula the Destroyer in A Brewing Storm on Heroic Difficulty. 10 points.
Heroic: Blood in the Snow (New) Complete the Blood in the Snow scenario on Heroic Difficulty. 10 points.
Heroic: Crypt of Forgotten Kings (New) Complete the Crypt of Forgotten Kings scenario on Heroic Difficulty. 10 points.

Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Druid (Forums)
Talents
Force of Nature Summons 3 Treants Summons a Treant to assist in the Druid's current combat role for 15 sec. Useable in all shapeshift forms. Balance Each Treant will cast Casts Wrath for [ 1,642 + 30% of Spell Power ] Nature damage every 2 sec and will cast Entangling Roots. Feral Each Treant deals [ 3,504 Melees for [ 2 + 10.7% of AP ] Physical damage every 2 sec and will use Bash. Guardian Each Treant deals [ 702 Melees for [ 1 + 2.1% of AP ] Physical damage every 2 sec and will use Taunt. Restoration Each Treant will heal Heals a nearby injured ally for [ 3,490 + 32.3% of Spell Power ] every 3 sec. and will use Swiftmend. Druid - LvL 60 Talent. 40 yd range. Instant. 60 sec cooldown.

Major Glyphs
Glyph of Solar Beam Increases the radius of your Solar Beam by 100%. Major Glyph. While you are not in an Eclipse, the following abilities now grant 10 Solar or Lunar Energy: Entangling Roots, Cyclone, Faerie Fire, Solar Beam, Faerie Swarm, Mass Entanglement, Typhoon, Disorienting Roar, Ursol's Vortex, and Mighty Bash. Major Glyph.

Raid & Dungeon Abilities
Amplifier Increases damage dealt by 50% and attack speed by 50%. Instant. 10% and attack speed by 10%. Instant.
Anger Inflicts Shadow damage to all enemies within 5 yds. Instant. 7 yds. Instant.
Dark Blood Inflicts Shadow damage to ALL nearby creatures and players. Instant. minions of Y'Shaarj within 0 yards of the dying creature. Instant.

Strings Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
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Carpie

Carpie

Member

3/28 5:40a

Heroic Scenarios, Scenario Steps, Mar 27 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, Sound Design, Comic
1.0.8 Will Have a PTR, Clarification on Itemization and Legendary Items, Fan Creation of the Week: Eat Game Live, Curse Interview With Matthew Berger

Patch 5.3 - Heroic Scenarios
Patch 5.3 adds a new type of scenario, the Heroic Scenario. These currently require an item level of 496 to queue for, but keep in mind that this is the PTR and things are not final. (Remember that the Patch 5.2 LFR initially had a higher item level requirement, which was then lowered)

Upon entering a heroic scenario, you will see the additional objectives listed to the right. These are optional, and will reward you with an extra 90 Valor Points if you successfully complete both. If one of the two is failed, you receive no bonus Valor Points. Even if you fail the objectives, you will still earn the increased amount of gold.

Only two scenarios have bonus objectives implemented so far, and both use a hidden timer as one of the bonus objectives. There is no way to know how long you have, or if you failed until after the attempt is complete.

The difficulty in these scenarios is increased by more damage and increased health. The NPCs seem to have ~2.3x the health and do significantly more damage. The damage is significant enough that you can't ignore all the mechanics and just AoE down everything, but not excessively challenging, especially with the current item level requirement. Most of the fights are possible to do with just two players, but having someone who wears plate or can throw a few offspec heals may come in handy if someone stands in something.

You will earn 140 Valor for your first scenario if the bonus objectives are completed and 115 Valor if it isn't your first. Keep in mind that that the amount of Valor isn't final yet, and many of the tooltips refer to 50 bonus Valor for completing the bonus objectives, rather than 90.

Patch 5.3 - New Scenario Steps
You can see the new scenario achievements on WoWDB.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Blood in the Snow
The Mountaineers - Contact the Dark Iron Mountaineers atop Shimmer Ridge and find a way to stop the storm.
Save Scout Stonebeard - Slay the trolls cooking Scout Stonebeard and free him.
Save Scout Boldbrew - Slay the trolls trying to cook Scout Boldbrew.
Save Scout Forgefellow - Slay the trolls about to sacrifice Scout Forgefellow.
The Cold Cave - Slay the elemental spirit in the ice cave to end the snowstorm.
Victory or Death - Join Moira's forces, slay the Zandalari leader, and captures the Frostmane village.

Dark Heart of Pandaria
Talk to the Boss - Speak with Grizzle Gearslip.
Rock Grinding - Destroy the greater elemental ravaging the Big Blossom Mine.
Time is Money - Finish gathering the archaeology fragments from the dig site.
End of the Mine - Travel deep into Big Blossom Mine and blast open the wall.
Heartbreak - Destroy the Echo of Y'Sharrj.

The Secrets of Emberdeep
Infiltration - Breach the main chamber and stop the mongrel forces.
Reconnaissance - Investigate the main chamber.
The Sealed Gate - Help Ticker build a device to open the next gate.
Holdout - Defend the Gob Squad while Patch establishes an escape route.
Egress - Escape with the Gob Squad.

Battle on the High Seas
Boarding Party! - Protect the Ship! Defeat the Horde Boarding party.
Explosives Acquisition - Steal Explosives from enemy Demolitionists.
To Smithereens! - Plant explosives on the Alliance Ship to destroy it!
Defeat the Admiral! - Defeat Admiral Hodgson.

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: March 27
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Classes
Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Tier-15 Feral Druid 2-piece set bonus should now work correctly with Savage Roar while Glyph of Savagery is active.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Tier-15 Brewmaster Monk 2-piece set bonus should now correctly increase Stagger by 12%.
Fixed a situation where Tier-15 Mistweaver Monk 2-piece set bonus could cause Renewing Mist to heal more than intended.
Charges of Mana Tea, Tigereye Brew, and Elusive Brew will now be removed after the Preparation buff wears off in Battlegrounds.

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Fixed an issue where Word of Glory or Eternal Flame did not work when both Divine Purpose and Tier-15 Protection Paladin 2-piece set bonus was present.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
For Discipline Priests with Divine Aegis, Prayer of Healing criticals should now heal for the correct amount.
Power Word: Solace should now correctly have a chance to activate item and enchantment effects.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Chain Heal now heals for 20% more.
Healing Rain now heals for 20% more.
Restoration
Earthliving Weapon now heals for 20% more.

Creatures
Itoka's Strange Metal Ingot can now be looted by multiple players.
Oondasta's health had been reduced by 50%.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Throne of Thunder
Fixed an issue where bracers with a random secondary stat may be awarded to the wrong role through Raid Finder or bonus roll.
Fixed an issue where zone drops were incorrectly disenchanting into Haunting Spirit.

Items
Big Bag of Zandalari Supplies is now soulbound.
Dragonmaw, Reborn now has a bonus to spellpower.
Drakefist Hammer, Reborn now has a bonus to spellpower.

Bug Fixes
Tyrannical Conquest achievement should now be correctly tracking a character's Conquest gains.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

3/28:

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16781
Build 16781 will be deployed to the PTR realms soon.

The 200 mount achievement now rewards a red or blue Armored Dragonhawk, based on your faction.
Many new item level 516 items with random stats have been added, with the possibility of at least some of them being heroic scenario loot.
New Item Level 600 cloaks were added, which are likely related to Wrathion's quest line. There are cloaks for all four of the August Celestials and Wrathion mentions augmenting the power of your cloak after speaking to them.
PvP Resilience has been removed from most gear and stats have been rebalanced on other PvP gear.
Two new horse like mounts have been added, but only one has a working model.
A new PvP tabard and enchants were added.

Third Spec Clarification

New Models
Just as last time, these are rougher previews, and we will update with nicer ones later on!

New Loading Screens

Modified Maps
Gold Rush was renamed Deepwind Gorge, but the rest of the map remained identical.

New Icons

New Items
See the new item level 516 items and other additions on WoWDB! Only items that are not armor are listed here to keep the page length down.

Level Type Slot Name
70 Mount Armored Blue Dragonhawk
90 Mount Brawler's Burly Mushan Beast
1 Tabard Tabard Tyrannical Gladiator's Tabard
1 Food & Drink Big Blossom Brew
90 Item Enhancement Enchant Weapon - Bloody Dancing Steel
85 Item Enhancement Enchant Weapon - Spirit of Conquest

Achievement Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
General
Mount Parade now rewards an Armored Red Dragonhawk, rather than Armored Dragonhawk.
Mount Parade now rewards an Armored Blue Dragonhawk, rather than Armored Dragonhawk.

Pandaria
Quests
Chapter IV: Judgement of the Black Prince was renamed to Chapter IV: Celestial Blessings - Accompany Wrathion on his journey to obtain blessings from the four August Celestials.
Chapter V: Judgement of the Black Prince (New) [Coming Soon...] 25 points.
The Darkspear Rebellion (New) Weaken Garrosh Hellscream's grip over the Horde by supporting the rebellious Darkspear Clan. 10 points.

Scenarios
Archaeological Acceleration (New) Complete an artifact set while affected by the reliquary pick in the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario. 10 points.
Dark Heart of Pandaria (New) Complete the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario. 10 points.
Heroic: Dark Heart of Pandaria (New) Complete the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario on Heroic Difficulty. 10 points.
The Few, the Proud, the Gob Squad Survive to wave 50 of the Secrets of Emberdeep endless assault. Complete the Secerts of Ragefire scenario without any member of the Gob Squad taking damage.

New Strings
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
BATTLEGROUND_IS_READY - Your Battleground is ready!
CAN_NOT_RELEASE_IN_COMBAT - A member of your group is in combat.
CONFIRM_UPGRADE_ITEM - Are you sure you wish to spend %s to upgrade the following item? Upgrading will cause this item to become soulbound.
OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_BATTLE_PET_TAMERS_ON_MAP - If enabled, you will be able to look at your map to see the locations of battle pet tamers.
OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_BOSSES_ON_MAP - If enabled, you will be able to look at your map to see the locations of bosses.
OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_DIG_SITES_ON_MAP - If enabled, you will be able to look at your map to see archaeological dig site locations.
SHOW_BATTLE_PET_TAMERS_ON_MAP_TEXT - Show Pet Tamers
SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_195 - You may not change talent specializations during a celestial challenge.
SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_196 - Your talent specialization does not match the selected challenge.
WEB_BROWSER_IME_ENTRY_TEXT - Please enter text here

Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Mounts
Armored Blue Dragonhawk (New) Summons and dismisses a rideable Armored Dragonhawk. This is a flying mount. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.
Armored Dragonhawk Summons and dismisses a rideable Armored Dragonhawk. This is a flying mount. 1.5 sec cast. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.
Brawler's Burly Mushan Beast (New) Summons and dismisses a rideable Brawler's Burly Mushan Beast. Account wide. 1.5 sec cast.

Companions
Gahz'rooki Right Click to summon and dismiss Ghaz'rooki. Battle Pet. Instant. Gahz'rooki. Battle Pet. Instant.

Item Set Bonuses
Disarm Duration Reduction no longer reduces the duration of disarms. Now decreases damage taken while in Battle Stance by 10%.
Resilience 800 Increases PvP resilience by 1,000. Power by 1,000.

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Omens no longer gives a bonus from Solar Beam.

Hunter (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Pets
Dust Cloud now notes that Weakened Armor is applied with 3 stacks initially.

Monk (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Stance of the Fierce Tiger was updated to reflect the live hotfix.

Mistweaver
Renewing Mist now costs 5.85% base mana, down from 6.5%
Revival now specifies a 100yd range.

Warrior (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Defensive Stance now decreases damage taken by 25%, up from 15%.

Protection
Unwavering Sentinel no longer increases the damage reduction of Defensive Stance by 10%.

Raid & Dungeon Abilities
Air Vent A chilling gust of wind knocks you back. 100 yd range. Instant. slows you and inflicts 14% health in Frost damage. 100 yd range. Instant.
Drain Blood A skillfully-thrown cleaver deals weapon damage and Bleeds (15% 5%)*5 Health over 10 sec seconds. Requires One-Handed Axes. 30 yd range. 3 sec cast.
Electrified Ground Electrifies the ground, inflicting 150,000 75,000 Nature damage to all enemies within 6 yards of the caster. 2.5 sec cast.
Emberstrikes Pools of embers inflict 55,000 25,000 Fire damage every 2 seconds to all enemies within the pool. Unlimited range. Instant.
Glacial Freeze Inflicts 75,000 Inflicts 35,000 Frost damage to all enemies within 10 yards for 5 sec. Instant.
Hekima's Brand Shadow damage depletes the target's Health by 10% 5% every 3 seconds for 15 sec. 40 yd range. Instant.
Hekima's Scorn Inflicts 25,000 Inflicts 15,000 Shadow damage every 2 sec. and prevents all healing to enemies for 20 sec. 100 yd range. 2 sec cast. Instant.
Ice Spike Knocks up and inflicts 150,000 100,000 Physical damage to players within 3 yards of the Ice Spike. 0.5 sec cast.
Ignite Blood (New) Ignites an enemey's blood, inflicting 8,000 Fire damage every 3 sec. for 15 sec. This effect stacks. 8 yd range. Instant.
Lava Spit (New) Spit lava at an enemy, inflicting 35,000 Fire damage. Limited to 1 target. 2 sec cast.
Poison Bolt Inflicts 65,000 Inflicts 25,000 Nature damage. Limited to 1 target. 40 yd range. 2 sec cast. 2.5 sec cast.
Pollen Puff Poisons the air around the caster, doing 60,000 Nature damage over 6 150,000 Nature damage over 15 sec to enemies who enter the area. 1 sec cast.
Ruined Earth Instant. Magma erupts from the earth, inflicting 88,000 Fire damage to all enemies within the eruptions. Instant.
Shadow Bolt Volley Launches a Shadow Bolt dark bolt of energy at enemies within 0 yards. 100 yd range. 3 sec cast. inflicting Shadow damage and cursing them. 50 yd range. 2.5 sec cast.
Torch Toss (New) Throws a torch, inflicting Fire damage to enemies within the flames every 2 sec. for 16 sec. 30 yd range. Instant.
Twisted Elements Blasts an enemy with dark magic, inflicting 100,000 50,000 Shadow damage. 40 yd range. 2.5 sec cast.
Venom Cloud (New) Inflicts 0 Nature damage to enemies within the cloud every 2 sec. and reduces healing effects by 90% for the 14 sec. 45 yd range. Instant.
Vertical Slash Strike down on an opponent, dealing 250,000 50,000 k damage. If the target is Parrying with a rapier, this attack will be parried and deal no damage. 8 yd range. 2 sec cast.
Volatile Concoction Consume a Volatile Concoction, increasing damage done by 500% 200% and damage taken by 50%. 2.5 sec cast.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

3/30:

Patch 5.3 Mounts, PvP Vanity Items, Flight Path Discovery, Mar 29 Hotfixes, Blue Post
Castbar When Identifying All in 1.0.8, You Can't Attack While Moving on Console, Discussions on the Console Version, Blue Posts

Patch 5.3 - Armored Dragonhawk and Steel Warhorse Mounts
Here are the nicer previews of the new Armored Red Dragonhawk, Armored Blue Dragonhawk, and Steel Warhorse mount. We also looked at the Faeire Dragon Mount a few days ago.

Popout

Popout

Patch 5.3 - PvP Vanity Items
Patch 5.3 added a new tabard earned through PVP, the Tyrannical Gladiator's Tabard.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Tyrannical Gladiators Tabard
Just as an FYI, the tabard is not the only aesthetic thing coming.

I definitely recommend that you keep your eyes on the patch notes blog, because there are several cool rewards that we are planning to introduce in patch 5.3 that you can get at certain ratings. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Vanity Items
- Make vanity items for ratings (i.e. 1750, 2000, 2200, 2500, 2800)
We actually have some more of these kind of rewards planned for 5.3. There is currently only a single cosmetic enchant that is appealing to only a few select classes, but we want to widen this range of enchants so that all classes have a use for the 2200 rating required, enchant.

On top of this, we plan to change elite gear back to having a rating requirement in patch 5.4 so that it gets back it's old prestige. We also know that many players like the ideas of having even more rewards; we are looking to introduce some additional cool things that you can earn at specific ratings in 5.3 to give everyone better reasons to work on increasing their Arena ratings, not just to aim on getting their end-of-season rewards. We have lots of stuff on the way in patch 5.3 and the patch notes blog will be updated soon to reflect this. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Automatic Flight Path Discovery Removal
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’ve seen a bit of confusion over the removal of automatic flight path discovery for characters leveling in patch 5.2, so here’s some background on the whole series of events that lead to where we are.

Players have always been required to visit a Flight Master in order to unlock transportation to and from that location. We’ve always viewed this as a fundamental element of exploration in World of Warcraft. Players should feel like they’re in a massive world with vast continents to explore and thousands of adventures to embark upon (because there are!).

With Cataclysm, every zone in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms was changing, flight points were moving, being added or removed, and we needed to make sure people didn’t log in to find they were missing large portions of their flight points. To solve this, characters exploring the world below level 80 were given every flight point automatically to ensure no edge-cases were missed. It was supposed to be a one-time changeover in the old-to-new world transition to resolve what could be numerable bugs due to the vastly altered landscape in the expansion. However, when the change went in, we didn’t realize it was implemented in a way that would affect all characters forever. When we found out it wasn’t an immediate priority, and we began implementing new tech in 5.1 and (more completely) 5.2.

We understand it was very convenient, but it wasn’t an intended change for flight path discovery forever. Over the course of patch 5.1 and 5.2, we implemented new functionality to remedy the original implementation issues. We’ve improved our tech in a way that allows us to remember what flight points a character has discovered, or determine what paths a character should/shouldn’t know on a case-by-case basis. In some cases you’re provided flight points when we’ve determined a character’s foreknowledge of them is important to the experience, but in most cases you will need to brave the wilds, seek out adventure, and visit a Flight Master before you can unlock flight to and from that location.

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: March 29
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Classes
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Tier-15 Fire/Frost 4-piece set bonus should now properly increase Frostbolt's chance to activate Fingers of Frost effect.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Tier-15 Discipline/Holy 4-piece set bonus should summon a Golden Apparition that now heals for the correct amount and can activate Divine Aegis.

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Combat
Blade Flurry now has a range of 8 yards, up from 5 yards, and will only hit targets that are within the Rogue's line-of-sight.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Ji-Kun's Feed Young ability should now be slightly easier to intercept.
To the Skies!: Fixed an issue where the Hail of Arrows debuff not being removed after defeating Beastmaster Horaki.

Items
Enchant Weapon - Glorious Tyranny can no longer be used on other player's weapons and will cause bind-on-equipped items to become soulbound.
Lightning-Imbued Chalice now has a greatly increased chance to generate Infinite Power.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

3/31:

Noblegarden Begins Tomorrow, Giveaway, Patch 5.3 World Changes, Blue Posts, TCG Art
Telling You What is Fun, What is a Good Number for Coop Players, Fan Creation of the Week: David Lines Cosplay, Curse Weekly Roundup

Noblegarden Begins Tomorrow
Noblegarden begins tomorrow, which means it is time to camp egg spawns for that Swift Springstrider if you don't already have it! There were not any major changes this year, but you can find an up to date guide on Icy Veins.

Curse Premium Twitter Giveaway
In addition to the MMO-Champion Twitter and Facebook, you can now find WoWDB on Twitter. You will be able to keep up with database updates, see smaller news items, and maybe even catch a few things before they end up in a news post!

If you want a chance to win a free month of Curse Premium, just follow WoWDB by April 5th! We will randomly select and direct message the 10 winners on Saturday, so be sure to check back then. Your Twitter account must have been created before March 30th to win.

Patch 5.3 World Changes
Patch 5.3 starts setting up the story for Patch 5.4 and brings the fight back to Azeroth. One of the first things Horde players will notice is the Troll area of the Valley of Spirits in Orgrimmar has been taken over by the Kor'kron Guard, with Kor'kron Overseers taking aim at the residents. The trainers, bank, auction house, and every other NPC has been shut down, only talking about how dangerous it is now.

Things aren't much better for the Trolls outside of Orgrimmar, as they are being kept in cages or down on their knees, blindfolded, in front of armed and Neutral flagged Kor'kron Grunts. Riko is standing on some crates as well, and he is likely involved in the Patch 5.3 quests.

Further south in Razor Hill the Kor'korn have also posted guards, but operations are still continuing normally there. High Overseer Bloodmane has moved down to Razor Hill from his position outside of Orgrimmar.

Moving further south to Sen'jin Village, the guard presence there has been greatly increased, with the guards asking if you are going to help and saying "Welcome to da' revolution".

Going west to the Barrens, it looks different if you are level 90, similar to the Krasarang Wild changes. The only current active event is escorting the Barrens Caravans through safely, as they are attacked when they pass through the Barrens. Doing so will give you a box of surplus supplies, required for a new weekly quest.

Four new Kor'kron camps have been added around the Barrens, harvesting Wood, Lumber, Oil, and Meat for the war effort. It appears they have also hired some Goblin Mercenaries to handle some of the work.

There are several quests that will also take place here, such meeting up with Sully and Amber in Durotar, who go through the new Dranosh'ar Blockade area to gather intelligence. You then head down to find Vol'jin and Chen Stormstout in Sen'jin Village. After this you begin to collect supplies from the Barrens, defend Sen'jin Village from the Kor'kron assault, and finally capture Razor Hill from the Kor'kron.

The Alliance are taking part in this quest line with separate Alliance caravans in the Barrens, and are able to open a dialogue after rescuing Zen'tabra from the Kor'kron.

While all of these events are taking place in Azeroth, events are unfolding in Pandaria. Things begin with a conversation between Taran Zhu and Sunwalker Dezco about the massive pit that has been dug in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The story behind this is revealed in the Dark Heart of Pandaria scenario, which is currently unavailable. The Alliance also get a view of the current story in the Blood in the Snow scenario.

Chen is troubled by these events, and sends you to find Seer Hao Pham Roo, an expert on the last emperor. Once you assist him in climbing Mount Neverrest you are rewarded with some item level 502 boots.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Taran Zhu: Tauren! What have your people done? You have dredged open a scar within our sacred Vale!
Sunwalker Dezco: Lord Zhu, please understand - the orc "Warchief" who ordered the deed no longer speaks for the whole of the Horde. Many voices are rising up against him.
Taran Zhu: Your politics are no concern of mine. Your Horde has disrespected the sanctity of this place. You are no longer welcome here - leave at once!
Sunwalker Dezco: Give us time, Lord Zhu. Give us the opportunity to bring Hellscream to justice.
Taran Zhu: Sunwalker, I respect your people. You have aided us in our campaign against the Sha and the Thunder King. Otherwise, I would've already ordered the Shado-Pan to purge this entire shrine. But my patience is at an end. The Horde must leave.
Sunwalker Dezco: Please. Give us time to make this right.
Taran Zhu stares grimly into the distance.
Taran Zhu: Very well. You have until season's end. No longer. We pandaren are no strangers to dealing with tyrants. The coming battle will try your souls. May the celestials guide your actions.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/1:

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16790
Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16790
Build 16790 will be deployed to the PTR realms soon.

Pegasus Mount
Very rough preview, check back for a nicer one later!

New Strings
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
CALENDAR_ERROR_MODERATOR_RESTRICTED - Starter Edition accounts cannot be moderators.
ERR_LOOT_SPEC_CHANGED_S - Loot Specialization set to: %s
ITEM_UPGRADE_BONUS_FORMAT - (+%d)

Achievement Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Battle
Pet Battles
Deadly Pet Brawler Win 1000 PvP pet battles through Find Battle with a full team of level 25 pets. Title: Reward: Trainer. 10 points. Account Wide.

Deepwind Gorge
Player vs. Player
Deepwind Gorge Perfection (New) Win Arathi Basin with a score of 1600 to 0. 20 points.
Deepwind Gorge Veteran (New) Complete 100 victories in Deepwind Gorge. 10 points.
Deepwind Gorge Victory (New) Win Deepwind Gorge 10 points.

Scenarios
Heed the Weed (New) Use every basket of Shimmerweed in a single Blood in the Snow scenario run. 10 points.
Hekima's Heal-Halter (New) Don't let Hekima cast Hekima's Wisdom in the Blood in the Snow scenario. 10 points.
Heroic: The Secrets of Ragefire (New) Complete the Secrets of Ragefire scenario on Heroic Difficulty. 10 points.
The Few, the Proud, the Gob Squad Complete the Secerts of Ragefire scenario without any member of the Gob Squad taking damage.10 points.
The Secrets of Emberdeep Complete the Secrets of Emberdeep scenario. 10 points. Ragefire scenario. 10 points.

Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Monk (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Talents
Ring of Peace now has a base 3 second blanket silence with a 3 sec additional silence if the player casts inside the ring.

Brewmaster, Windwalker, Mistweaver
Nimble Brew now also clears horror effects. Now is also flagged as a Mistweaver spell.

Priest (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Mass Dispel no longer removes undispellable effects.

Discipline
Atonement now heals for 80% of the damage dealt, down from 100%.

Discipline & Holy
Void Shift is now a Discipline & Holy Spec spell. Cooldown reduced to 5 min, down from 6.

Shadow
Void Shift (New) You and the currently targeted party or raid member swap health percentages. Increases the lower health percentage of the two to 25% if below that amount. Priest - Shadow Spec. 40 yd range. Instant. 10 min cooldown.

Major Glyphs
Glyph of Mass Dispel now causes your Mass Dispel to be potent enough to remove Magic effects that are normally undispellable. The old cast time reduction is now automatically granted to Holy and Disc priests.

Shaman (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Unleashed Lightning was replaced with Glyph of Lightning Shield - Your Lightning Shield also reduces all damage you take by 10%. "Old Unleashed Lightning glyph benefit is baked in for Elemental. Cast time penalty just goes away. (Anything can change before 5.3 launch.)"

Raid & Dungeon Abilities
Barrel Explosion 10 yd range. Instant. The gunpowder barrel explodes, dealing 50,000 damage to all units within 4 yards. 10 yd range. Instant.
Blackshadow Bolt Launches a dark bolt of energy at enemies within 0 yards, inflicting Shadow damage and cursing them reducing their ability to receive healing. 50 yd range. 2.5 sec cast.
Bomb! 40 yd range. Instant. Deals 25 damage to all enemies within 3 yards. 40 yd range. Instant.
Bombs Away! Unlimited range. Instant. The cannon's fire deals 75,000 damage to all targets within 4 yards. Unlimited range. Instant.
Burning Embers (New) Hurls burning embers at an enemy's location, inflicting 35,000 Fire damage to all enemies within 3 yards of the impact. 100 yd range. Instant.
Counter Shot (New) Shoots at an enemy, inflicting Physical damage. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Dire Rage (New) Fills the caster with rage, increasing their damage done by 5%. This effect stacks. 1.5 sec cast.
Flame Breath (New) 2 sec cast.
Glacial Freeze Inflicts 35,000 Inflicts 88,000 Frost damage and stuns all enemies within 10 yards for 5 sec. Instant.
Glacial Freeze Inflicts 35,000 Inflicts 88,000 Frost damage to all enemies within 10 yards for 5 sec. Instant.
Ignite Blood Ignites an enemey's blood, inflicting 8,000 6,000 Fire damage every 3 sec. for 15 sec. This effect stacks. 8 yd range. Instant.
Shattered Earth (New) The shattered earth inflicts 75,000 Physical damage every 1 sec. to all enemies within 5 yards. Instant.
Shotgun Shreds and knocks back enemies in a cone in front of you. Can be used while moving. 20 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.
Sticky Bomb 100 yd range. Instant. The lieutenant's throws a bomb at you that sticks on impact. After 5 sec, it will explode, causing damage to all enemies within 4 yards. 100 yd range. Instant.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/2:

Pegasus Mount, ToT LFR Wing Opens Today, Blue Tweets, SC2 Warhound, ElvUI April Fools
Dyes for Legendaries Not in Patch 1.0.8, Coop Updates Coming, Blue Posts, News for Korean players

Patch 5.3 PTR - Build 16790

Follow WoWDB on Twitter for a chance to win Curse Premium!

Patch 5.3 - Pegasus Mount
Here is the nicer preview of the mount from tonight's PTR build.

Popout

Throne of Thunder LFR Opens Another Wing Today
Don't forget that another section of the Throne of Thunder LFR will open today! AskMrRobot has a nice blog post up about how to spend your bonus rolls and what all of the output means.

You can find the encounter journal and loot tables for the next 3 bosses on the pages linked below, and boss guides over at Icy Veins.

Patch 5.3 PTR Changes Clarifications
Tonight's PTR build demonstrated why you should always wait before complaining about changes. We can only report changes made to the tooltips, so when tooltips are not updated completely you don't get the full story. Ghostcrawler was nice enough to address some of the concerns anyway!


Skittles
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31

Skittles

Premium Member

said by Carpie:

4/2:

Pegasus Mount, Dyes for Legendaries Not in Patch 1.0.8

EXPLAIN PLS

Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

said by Skittles:

said by Carpie:

4/2:

Pegasus Mount, Dyes for Legendaries Not in Patch 1.0.8

EXPLAIN PLS

I can't, MMO Champs just have it as a weblink to a diablo site that is websensed. Here's the URL if you can access it:

»www.diablofans.com/news/ ··· arcraft/
Carpie

Carpie

Member

said by Carpie:

4/1:

Discipline
Atonement now heals for 80% of the damage dealt, down from 100%.

No Blizz. No.
Carpie

Carpie

Member

Also 4/2:

Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Update - April 2
New Pegasus Mount, ToT LFR Wing Opens Today

Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Update - April 2
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
General
Heroic Scenarios
Heroic scenarios require a pre-made group to join.
Heroic scenarios offer bonus objectives that will reward additional valor if completed.
An option to run a random heroic scenario has been added as a drop-down in the scenario tab in Dungeon Finder.
Players can complete a normal or heroic scenario for bonus valor each day, but not both.
Six heroic scenarios will be available in patch 5.3. Four are new and two are upgrades of existing normal scenarios.
Battle of the High Seas
Blood in the Snow
Dark Heart of Pandaria
The Secrets of Ragefire
Crypt of Forgotten Kings
A Brewing Storm

Quest Campaign: Escalation
The Darkspear Trolls are in open rebellion against the Warchief! Aid your faction in preparing to rout Garrosh Hellscream from Orgrimmar
Alliance heroes will scout Orgrimmar's outskirts and engage in SI:7 espionage to weaken Garrosh’s power structure.
Horde heroes will help Vol’jin’s insurgency survive a Kor’kron assault and advance towards the Horde capital.
Visit Lorewalker Cho at the Seat of Knowledge in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to begin questing.

Battlefield: Barrens
Put the stranglehold on Orgrimmar by undermining the Kor’kron supply chain in Northern Barrens.
Collect resources by killing Kor’kron loyalists and their supporters.
Get a group together to kill Kor’kron leaders for bonus resources.
Escort your faction’s caravans across the zone for even more additional resources.
The Darkspear Rebellion will reward your efforts to undermine the Warchief by helping you upgrade Latent Kor’kron Armor into useable gear.
Participate in the Escalation Quest Campaign to learn how to engage in the Barrens conflict.

The Legendary Quest Continues
Journey with Wrathion to the four corners of Pandaria to speak with the August Celestials.
Champions will have had to complete Wrathion’s earlier tasks (including “Heart of the Thunder King”) to continue.

New Brawler’s Guild Bosses
Test your might against two new tiers of bosses in the Brawl’gar Arena in Orgrimmar or Bizmo’s Brawl Pub in Stormwind.
New VIP areas are now accessible for brawlers at or above rank 8.
Bizmo has raised the floor in his arena to hide the bodies. Or... maybe to improve the sight lines. We’ll never know for sure.
Special “Challenge Cards” can now drop from mobs or reward satchels, allowing you to summon and battle unique bosses.

Classes

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Talents
Force of Nature is no longer on global cooldown and summons a single Treant. The Treant no longer has a control bar, immediately uses its special abilities on the Druid’s current target, and accumulates 1 charge every 20 seconds up to a maximum of 3 charges.
Restoration version of the Treant now casts Swiftmend on the Druid's target when summoned. This version of Swiftmend does not require or consume a heal-over-time effect on the target.
Glyphs
Glyph of Solar Beam have been removed and replaced with Glyph of Omens.
New Glyph: Glyph of Omens: While the Druid is not in a Solar or Lunar Eclipse, the following abilities will generate 10 Solar or Lunar Energy: Entangling Roots, Cyclone, Faerie Fire, Solar Beam, Faerie Swarm, Mass Entanglement, Typhoon, Disorienting Roar, Ursol's Vortex, and Mighty Bash.
Balance
Solar Beam is now more responsive when players enter and leave the beam's area-of-effect.
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Hunters now have 50 pet stable slots, up from 20.
Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Teleport: Vale of Eternal Blossoms and Portal: Vale of Eternal Blossoms now have new icons.

Pet Battles
General
Pet Battle Duels are now available in all dungeons and raids. Enjoy!
Pet Battles in the wild and duels are now viewable by other players in the world.
Hit Chance is now displayed for all abilities.
Abilities no longer have a base chance to miss or be dodged by opposing pets of the same level.
Reduced the chance to miss when fighting higher-level opponents from 5% per level to 2% per level.
Blistering Cold had now deals 100% more damage.
A series of new achievements and rewards have been added for max-level matchmaking PvP pet battles
Wins for max-level, matchmaking PvP pet battles can now be tracked in statistics.
Battle pets' recent ability loadouts will now be saved when pets are swapped in and out of battle slots.
Species specific Flawless Battle-Stones are now Bind to Battle.net account.
Battle Pets
A number of new battle pets have been added to the Throne of Thunder and Isle of Thunder. Happy hunting!
Whispers from pet tamers in the north have spread word of an elusive new battle pet that can be found in the frozen tundras of Northrend. The Unborn Val'kyr awaits.
Battle Pet drops have been added to Burning Crusade raids. These new pets can be obtained from raid bosses in Karazhan, Tempest Keep and Serpenshrine Cavern. Obtaining all of these new pets will reward players with a new battle pet, Tito!
Ethereal Soul-Trader has been returned to his original, larger size.
Battle Pet Quests
Beasts of Fable daily quest has been broken into three separate chapters. Players can now choose to do any or all of the chapters each day. Rewards have been modified to include a new consumable that will boost battle pet XP for a limited time.
All Beasts of Fable and Spirit Tamer quests will now reward experience and lesser charms.
Increased the difficulty of elite pets on the Beasts of Fable quest.
A new weekly quest for max-level, matchmaking PvP pet battles has been added.

PvP
Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear.
Resilience gems and enchants will continue to be available and remain unchanged.
4-piece PvP set bonus for all Season 12 and 13 armor sets that granted 1000 Resilience now grants 1000 PvP Power instead.
Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493. Weapons and shields/off-hand items remain unchanged at ilevel 498.
Glorious Tyranny weapon enchantment now grants 600 PvP Power instead of 400 PvP Power and 200 Resilience.
New weapon enchantment: Bloody Dancing Steel is functionally equivalent to Dancing Steel, shares the same visual effect as Glorious Tyranny, costs a scroll of the base enchant, and requires a 2200 rating.
New weapon enchantment: Spirit of Conquest is functionally equivalent to Jade Spirit, shares the same visual effect as Glorious Tyranny, costs a scroll of the base enchant, and requires a 2200 rating.
Tyrannical Gladiator’s Tabard and Tyrannical Gladiator’s Greatcloak are available as new prestige items at 2500 rating for 1000 Conquest Points.

Battlegrounds and Arenas
Dalaran Arena: Masons of Dalaran have been hard at work installing steps in the two remaining corners of the arena.
Eye of the Storm: The starting platforms have been lowered.

Items
Reduced the amount of Justice, Honor, and Darkmoon Faire tickets needed to upgrade heirloom items by 60%.
Players starting on Cataclysm content can purchase level-80 gear from vendors located in Hyjal and Vashj'ir.
A new achievement and reward has been added for obtaining 200 mounts.

UI
A new option to display pet tamers on the world map has been added. This should help players looking to find unlocked pet tamer daily quests.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/3:

Blood in the Snow Scenario Intro, PvP Vanity Cloak, April 2 Hotfixes, GW2 April Fools
Developer Journal: Multiplayer Improvements

Follow WoWDB on Twitter for a chance to win Curse Premium!

Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Update - April 2

Patch 5.3 - Blood in the Snow Scenario Intro
Some of the new scenarios in Patch 5.3 will have an intro by Lorewalker Cho, starting with Blood in the Snow. Unfortunately the new scenarios are still not open for testing, so you cannot progress further than this one yet.

Popout

Patch 5.3 - Tyrannical Gladiator's Greatcloak
Another PvP vanity item appeared in a recent PTR build, the Tyrannical Gladiator's Greatcloak.

Warcraft April Fools
Zarhym addressed the lack of a Warcraft April Fools joke this year today.

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 2
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
General
Brightly Colored Eggs now spawn more frequently.

Quests
To the Skies!: Fixed an issue where players would remain on Thunderwing and be unable to progress to Stage 3.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Throne of Thunder
Assassination Rogues should no longer be receiving non-dagger agility weapons from bonus rolls and Raid Finder.
Vampiric Cave Bat now deals less damage in Raid Finder difficulty.
Durumu the Forgotten
Eye Sore and Mind Daggers now deal less damage on Raid Finder difficulty.
Amber Fog, Azure Fog, and Crimson Fog now remain visible after being revealed on Raid Finder difficulty.

Items
Inscribed Bag of Hydra-Spawn now has an increased chance to activate its shielding effect.

Ask the Devs - Upcoming PvP changes
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Current Status
LOCKED — Questions and voting will begin soon.

Topic
The topic for this Ask the Devs is, “PvP changes on the PTR”.
Be sure to stay on topic, as questions that stray from this won't be answered.

How it works:
Voting will begin on 09/04/13 and end on 11/04/13.
The thread will be open for 48 hours, after which time it will be locked and you’ll no longer be able to post or vote for questions to be sent to the developers.
Once the thread has been locked, we’ll tally up the votes and send the top questions off to the World of Warcraft developers.
We’ll provide answers directly from the developers during the following week. Watch the blog for their responses!

The Rules:
There’s a limit of one question per post.
Stay on topic. Questions that are not related to the chosen topic will not be sent to the developers, even if they’re rated highly.
Only post questions in the Ask the Devs thread – discussions are not permitted. If you would like to discuss the questions or a related matter, please do so in another thread.
A question being highly rated does not guarantee that it will be answered. We will, however, try to get as many questions answered as possible.
“Disliking” a post will not count toward its tally. Only “likes” will be counted.

Some Tips:
Don’t post or vote for questions that you know we cannot or will not answer. This Q&A is designed to give you more insight into the changes that are happening on the PTR, not to make announcements about future projects, expansions, or release dates. This includes questions not related to the Ask the Devs topic.
Make your questions as short and concise as possible so that they’re easy to understand for us and other players.
“Like” a post if you’d like to vote for it. Don’t bother “disliking” a post, as this will not influence our decision on which questions are sent to the developers.
Vote for any of the questions you’d like to see answered, but keep in mind the above tips.

Small Client Patches
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As you may have noticed there have been a few small patches being downloaded and installed by the World of Warcraft launcher. These are part of a new bit of tech we’ve been testing that allows us to quickly release small client-side patches without needing to build and release a large scale patch. These allow us to now make client-side changes quickly and easily, very similar to the server-side hotfixes we’ve become used to for all these years. We treat them the same as server-side hotfixes, so they’ll be noted in the usual hotfix blog as it’s updated.

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
UI / Addons
Hey Greg! Any chance you guys are going to break Feat of Strengths into subcategories? I currently have 55 and It overwhelms.
Gratz! We think our achievement UI needs some work, including filtering. (Source)

need to make ui able to see absorbs from ss,da, & pws to let me know when they are capped to make sure I dont overuse.
You can see absorbs in 5.2. You can't see their caps because we couldn't solve that to our liking but mods might. (Source)

Yo GC, would love to see a in game tabard u.i similar to titles. Drop down menu > tabard > check to equip or display none.
Agree. We just have to solve a few that have a clicky effect like teleports. (Source)

If you can redesign WoW from scratch, do you still think it's good to support custom addons?
Yes, though we might have aimed more for supporting more customization and less automation. (Source)

Guild Wars 2 Aprils Fools
The team went all out with an 8 bit style 3D world full of jumping puzzles and adventure! You can see GW2Guru's writeup here for more details, or watch the video below.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/4:

Battleground Roles, Loot Spec Menu, LFR Difficulty, Blue Tweets, HS Interview, Comic
Patch 1.0.8 Known Issues List

Follow WoWDB on Twitter for a chance to win Curse Premium!

Patch 5.3 - Battleground Roles
Patch 5.3 finally adds roles to queuing for random battlegrounds. Things don't appear to be working completely yet, as everyone is accepted as a healer, no matter what they queue as.

Patch 5.3 - Loot Specialization Menu
The new Loot Specialization menu is in, allowing you to choose what spec you want loot for when getting bonus rolls, Raid Finder gear, and Pandarian quest rewards.

Warcraft April Fools
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Based on all the interesting replies I've been receiving on Twitter, I just want to specify here that I was primarily referring to website content and the priorities of our Web and Community teams. These are the teams that tend to put the most focus on April Fools jokes on our websites. People are extrapolating a lot of strange conclusions out of what I said... or, I guess more accurately, what I didn't even say.

And, as I said in the first of those tweets listed on MMO-C, we DID work on ideas for this year's April 1, but they didn't really pan out. We decided we couldn't justify spending MORE time on it this year with everything else going on. This doesn't mean we had more time to kill in previous years, or that we'll never do gags on our website again. It was a matter of priorities and time investment.

It's awesome that people enjoy when we do fun stuff. We like fun too. I'm sure we can all continue to have fun together, even if we didn't fool people on the day everyone not only expects it, but apparently demands it.

Zarhym, I hope you remember that tweet the next time you're inclined to give the canned "Doing X doesn't take away resources from Y, we have independent teams" response we've been treated to for years. I'm glad you guys are finally admitting something we all knew and decried for many, many years now.
This is the problem with pulling things we say out of context and using them as blanket statements to justify why we didn't meet your expectations.

Here's an example:

Very rarely does website development interfere with game development. There's communication between the teams so that we have a shared vision, obviously, but each team has its own resources specific to their respective design focuses.

Here's a counter example:

The Web & Mobile team, unlike the WoW development team, is a shared-resource team. Not only does the scope of the projects they work on extend far beyond what most people are assuming in this thread, they support all Blizzard websites.

The point:

Context matters. We can say that developing April 1 jokes doesn't require pulling resources from game design, while it CAN ALSO be true that Blizzard's continued expansion in the web, mobile and social media spaces to support increasingly more games DOES put more strain on our Web & Mobile and Communications departments.

I've experienced it first-hand during my six years with Blizzard Community Development. The way I work with WoW's game designers hasn't changed all that much over the years (although we've evolved our relationship with them and try to be as efficient as possible when we ask for their time). That said, the scope of my job, as well as the functions of the Blizzard Communications department as a whole, have grown and changed quite dramatically.

Sometimes I'm still surprised by how difficult it is to maintain a rational public dialog about anything we're doing or saying. April 1 is what it is, and perhaps we'll have cool things to share on future occasions. But, the fact that this is even a part of the WoW discussion beyond 12:00 am April 2 seems like folly to me. I don't intend to spend anymore time on it.

New Raid Finder Wing Difficulty
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I'm personally ok with it if I'm not able to roll over every fight the first day it's available on the LFR. I personally think a sense of progression can be had, even in a group of 25 strangers. There have been some hotfixes already for the fight in LFR, I'm not sure if it needs more, but I'm sure if the designers feel it does they will make them.

Personally I appreciate that some fights require more knowledge and coordination, and aren't surefire gimmies. The fight has been available for 1 day to most of the people attempting it. I'm not sure that's enough information to claim that it's too hard for LFR. My group last night wiped a good number of times and then got it down with about 15 people that did understand the mechanics and were able to pull it off. That felt good to overcome the challenge finally, even if I was one of the dead.

There were a group of people in my guild back in the day that just could not do the Naxxramas Safety Dance on Heigan no matter what. Ever. No matter where you go people will make mistakes, or lack the coordination to overcome some mechanics. Considering the fight was able to done by 15 people in my LFR group last night though, I feel like it's a surmountable challenge even if a large portion of the raid is laying there. And hey, I can get better and maybe won't die next time, right?

One thing to keep in mind was "how many stacks of determination" did you have before you were able to kill the boss. Was the increased dps/health/healing help in determining that only 15 people were needed to kill him?
Maybe? But that's what that mechanic is there for. It helps make up for low damage, or healing, or coordination, or understanding/ability to overcome a fight. The intent was to not make LFR completely different, but help give people boosters when they need them. It's still more efficient to not wipe, and so logically that's what people should still be striving to do.

No offense, but you're not really engaging the substance of his post, which is that the "maze" mechanic is incredibly difficult to distinguish. You have a dark floor with a dark purple overlay, with a dark purple fog over that overlay. I had to TURN DOWN my settings to distinguish the maze in normal.

The problem isn't the cones or the other mechanics. The problem is the maze portion of the fight which is difficult to see and distinguish. I think when you have a mechanic where you have to DECREASE your settings to be able to play. You ought to reconsider or fix those settings.
Quite right, most are not saying it's too hard as a mechanic, just that visual effect needs alteration to make it more... attemptable even. I don't think that's something we'd disagree with. The effect went through a number of changes on the PTR, including very late in the testing cycle to try to resolve some performance issues it was causing. It's certainly a doable fight, but I think it's safe to say we don't think it's perfect as-is.


Skittles
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31

Skittles

Premium Member

said by Carpie:

4/4:

The problem isn't the cones or the other mechanics. The problem is the maze portion of the fight which is difficult to see and distinguish. I think when you have a mechanic where you have to DECREASE your settings to be able to play. You ought to reconsider or fix those settings.
.......but I think it's safe to say we don't think it's perfect as-is.

I knew it....if your going to do the maze shit again (Venoxxis) at least give us one we can see.

Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

4/4:

Patch 5.3 PTR Notes Update - April 4
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Classes
Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Nimble Brew now also removes horrify effects, and reduces the duration of horrify effects and fear, and is available to all Monk specializations (formerly only available for Brewmaster and Windwalker Monks).
Talents
Ring of Peace had been redesigned. The ability forms an 8-yard sanctuary around a friendly target for 8 seconds, instantly disarming and silencing enemies within the area-of-effect for 3 seconds. Enemies that use abilities other than auto-attacks or cast spells on allies within the Ring of Peace will be disarmed and silenced for 3 seconds. Disarm and silence effects are subject to diminishing returns.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Mass Dispel no longer dispels magic effects that are normally undispellable. Cast time has been decreased to 0.5 seconds, down from 1.5 seconds for Discipline and Holy Priests.
Void Shift had its cooldown decreased to 5 minutes, down from 6 minutes for Discipline and Holy Priests. For Shadow Priests, cooldown has been increased to 10 minutes, up from 6 minutes, and the spell is no longer usable while in Arenas or Rated Battlegrounds.
Glyphs
Glyph of Mass Dispel has been redesigned and no longer reduces cast time. The glyph now enables Mass Dispel to dispel magic effects that are normally undispellable.
Discipline
Atonement now heals nearby friendly targets for 80% of the damage dealt, down from 100%.

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Lightning Bolt can now be cast while moving.
Glyphs
New Glyph: Glyph of Lightning Shield causes Lightning Shield to reduce the amount of damage taken by 10%.
Glyph of Unleashed Lightning has been removed and replaced with Glyph of Lightning Shield.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
General
Defensive Stance now decreases damage taken by 25%, up from 15%.
Protection
Unwavering Sentinel no longer increases the damage reduction of Defensive Stance by 10%.

Pet Battles
General
Fixed an issue where pet abilities that had a chance to stun were not working correctly.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Scenarios
Lorewalker Cho will allow heroes to take part in either faction's scenarios, so players can see what the other side has been up to.

PvP
Battle Fatigue now reduces the amount of healing and absorbs by 50%, up from 30%.
PvP Power bonus to healing for healing specializations has been increased to 100%, up from 50% for Druids, Monks, Paladins, Priests, and Shamans.
PvP Power bonus to healing for damage specializations has been increased to 75%, up from 25% for Druids, Monks, Paladins, Priests, and Shamans.

Items
Players starting on Cataclysm content can purchase level-80 gear from Iris Moonweaver in Hyjal and Erunak in Vashj'ir to more easily qualify for Blackrock Caverns and Abyssal Maw: Throne of Tides.

UI
When using name plates, castbars will now display for all NPCs.

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 4
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Quests
Extended Shore Leave: This quest has been temporarily removed from quest rotation to address an issue with the Zandalari Warship.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Fixed an issue where Warlocks remained in the wrong phase at The Black Temple after completing the quest Seek the Signal.
Throne of Thunder
Durumu the Forgotten
During the Light Spectrum phase, Yellow Eye's cone now moves more quickly on Raid Finder difficulty.

Items
Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon now has a reduced chance to activate its effect for characters that are level 61-69 and its effect no longer activates for characters above level 69.

Pet Battle Accuracy Changes in Patch 5.3
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Greetings, trainers!

We wanted to take a moment to discuss some of the broad accuracy changes we’re making to Pet Battles in patch 5.3. The overarching goal behind these changes is to provide transparency to reduce the amount of uncontrolled randomness, where one miss often makes or breaks a match. Once patch 5.3 is live, you’ll see “hit chance” listed for all abilities, and this value will update if the pet is affected by abilities that increase or reduce the chance to hit.

In addition, we’ve removed the base 5% chance to dodge, and reduced the chance to miss opponents of higher levels from 5% per level to 2% per level. The end result should be that your attacks that should hit, will hit, and there’s greater incentive to get out there and fight higher-level pets for greater experience rewards.

In a turn-based game, randomness can be a lot of fun if handled correctly. Without a little randomness, the outcome of a match could be predicted to a high degree of certainty before the first swing, and that’s no fun. Randomness often works best when it is opt-in, often in exchange for greater attack power, longer duration, etc. In fact, many higher-damage battle pet abilities already had a reduced chance to hit, which will now be visible.

With the removal of the base dodge chance, we were left with a large number of abilities that now had a 100% hit chance. We’ve made a handful of minor modifications to some of these abilities, giving them greater damage in exchange for a reduced chance to hit. It’s worth noting that every battle pet type (e.g. Dragonkin) have at least one ability that hits 100% of the time, allowing you to opt-out of the randomness if you prefer a less risky strategy. (Check out the full list of basic abilities that have gained additional damage in exchange for reduced accuracy below.)

Finally, we’ve left the base 5% chance to gain a critical strike (for 1.5x damage), and +/- 10% damage variance on all abilities, at least for the time being. We believe that getting a crit generally feels good, and the damage variance is often enough to make a match a bit less predetermined without swinging the match heavily in one player’s favor.

We also wanted to thank the community for the great feedback we’ve gotten so far about Pet Battles. Keep it coming!

As noted earlier, the following basic attacks have had their damage increased by 5-15% and accuracy reduced by 5-15%:

(See Blog Post for full list)

Curse Gaming Survey
How are you gaming in 2013? Curse is interested in your opinion! Spend a moment taking our survey and let us know how you are gaming this year!

Hearthstone Wiki
Curse has created a nice Hearthstone wiki, with lists of all the cards, heroes, classes, and abilities. There will likely be lots to do once beta starts if you are interested in helping out!

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/6:

Wrathion Questline Update, Blue Tweets, Hearthstone Interview, GW2 SAB Music, TCG Art
Blizzard Welcoming Ideas and Suggestions, Blue Posts, What's Your Favorite Hero Class in Diablo III?

Patch 5.3 - Wrathion Questline Update
Patch 5.3 continues Wrathion's questline with a few more quests. You first visit Wrathion so that he can send you to collect blessings from the four Pandaria Celestials. There are four challenges, one for tanks, healers, and two different ones for DPS. After completing the challenge most suited to your class and spec, you will return to Wrathion to receive one of the item level 600 cloaks below. The line ends with you waiting for Patch 5.4 and the Siege of Orgrimmar.

Be sure to listen to the audio if you are interested in the Burning Legion and what is coming!

That was about the only thing worthy of re-posting.
Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/7:

Another short one.

Transmogrify From Bank and VS, VoidTransmog Addon, Blue Tweets, Setup of the Month
Whimsyshire Also to Benefit From Density Changes, Idea For the Treasure Goblin Alert, Community Commentary: Public Enemy #1, Tokio's Tri-Gen Palm Monk

Patch 5.3 - Transmogrify From Bank and Void Storage
Patch 5.3 adds the ability to transmogrify to items that are located in your bank or Void Storage without having them in your bags! The last update we got on Void Storage space was a no to more slots.

Addon - VoidTransmog
The ability to transmogrify from your Void Storage is already live, but not built in to the default UI. The VoidTransmog addon allows you to transmogrify to anything currently in your Void Storage.

You can open the Void Storage window when at a transmogrification NPC by pressing the Void button on the transmogrify window, then selecting an item from Void Storage and applying it to the correct slot. The items don't appear in the normal flyout selection menu, so you must select the item and then slot.

Carpie

Carpie

Member

4/9:

Bugged Ra-Den Kill, April 8 Hotfixes, Blue Posts, Blizzard Buys IPL Assets, Fan Art
PTR 1.0.8 Patch Notes

Bugged Ra-Den Kill
It seems a group in China was able to defeat Ra-Den today due to a bug in the encounter, which may have been addressed by tonight's hotfixes. This did confirm that Ra-den does not die at the end of the encounter, which we assumed from the sound files.

Popout

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 8
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Creatures
Zandalari Beast Handler is now properly seated in a saddle while riding a Direhorrn.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Throne of Thunder
Giorgio's Caduceus of Pure Moods is no longer being awarded to Elemental and Restoration Shamans on Raid Finder difficulty or via bonus rolls.
Primordius
During the Primordius encounter, spells which dispel a single harmful effect (Sear Magic, Single Magic, or Mass Dispel) will no longer work if any of the positive effects are active on the target (Improved Synapses, Keen Eyesight, Thick Bones, Clear Mind, or Fully Mutated).
Ra-den
Fixed an issue that could prevent Ra-den from absorbing Essences of Anima/Vita as intended.
Engaging Ra-den now resets the cooldown on Reincarnation for Shamans.

Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where some situations could cause players to not receive credit towards Pay to Slay or It Was Worth Every Ritual Stone achievement after defeating Incomplete Drakkari Colossus.

Blizzard Acquires IGN Pro League Assets
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
As an important next step in its ongoing efforts to provide world-class entertainment, Blizzard has purchased IGN Pro League technology and assets from IGN. Along with this purchase, Blizzard is bringing onboard members of the IPL staff as the foundation for a new team based in San Francisco whose primary focus will be on creating high-quality web and mobile content in support of Blizzard games, while some IPL staff have joined Blizzard's existing eSports team.

“This new team will help us to further develop the rich media experiences that extend the fun and engagement of our games online,” said Itzik Ben-Bassat, Blizzard’s executive vice president of publishing. “This is a team of passionate gamers with a proven track record, and we’re looking forward to now leveraging their expertise and technology to support a variety of online efforts.”

Regarding the transaction, Peer Schneider, executive vice president of IGN, stated, “With the continuing evolution of the eSports space and the renewed focus on our core media brand, we made the decision to sell the IGN Pro League technology and assets and become agnostic in our competitive gaming coverage. Following Blizzard’s acquisition of IPL assets, IGN will partner with multiple organizations and cover their events.”

djlar
join:2009-04-23
799228

djlar

Member

- Engaging Ra-den now resets the cooldown on Reincarnation for Shamans

I could almost predict top end guilds will use at least 9 shamans on a 25 man, 3 of each spec, that's 9 "free battle resses", on this fight, 3 shamans on 10 man.

Also when they res they can do bloodlust/hero for themselves.

What's the time/attempt limit on Ra-den?

Carpie
join:2012-10-19
united state

Carpie

Member

4/10:

In-Game Support Browser, Durumu Maze Changes, April 9 Hotfixes, LFR Groups, Gamon
Auction House Maintenance, Patch 1.0.8 Feedback and Suggestions, Clarifications on Monster Power and Infernal Machine, Humans In Diablo Lore

Patch 5.3 - PTR Build 16825

In-game Browser and Support Tools in 5.3
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We’re adding a feature-limited web browser to World of Warcraft that will replace the in-game support system with a direct portal to the Battle.net Support site. Our aim is to give players in-game easy access to the site’s robust knowledge base and support contact system.

We’ve gone to great lengths to improve our website support systems and we want to offer access to all of its robust features in-game. The new browser will make it it easier to find information to help you resolve issues you’re experiencing or contact our representatives if you need a little extra help.

We will test this new feature in the 5.3 public test realm (PTR), and we’d like your assistance. Adding a web browser in-game is a new venture for us, and we need you to test it by searching through the support knowledge base and pages to make sure that it holds up in various hardware and network situations. It’s important to note that while we will be testing the functionality of this feature within the PTR, we are unable to process support ticket submissions.

To help test and provide feedback, copy your character and download the PTR client.

We’d appreciate you keeping your feedback to this thread. We’ll be combing through it for your feedback and reports of any errors or issues you’re seeing.

Durumu Maze Improvements
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Late in the 5.2 PTR cycle we found that the Durumu smoke effects during the maze phase were causing debilitating performance issues for some users’ computer hardware configurations. We made a fairly last-minute change to the cloud effect that wasn’t quite what we had first planned on using, and as you’re likely aware, made traversing the maze more difficult than we had intended.

Last night we released a fast patch (you can read more on these small client patches here) in addition to a standard hotfix, which both work to improve the readability of the maze visual, as well as make the way the maze appears a bit more intuitive. These changes will be noted in a future hotfix blog update.

It being Tuesday and all, we’re eager to hear how these improvements impact your runs tonight and/or later this week. Let us know in the comments below!

Patch 5.2 Hotfixes: April 9
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Classes
Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Talents
Powershot now has a 25% decrease to damage, cast time, cooldown, and focus cost.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
Throne of Thunder
Durumu the Forgotten
Safe spots in the maze of Eye Sores now appear earlier, before the Disintegration Beam starts moving.
Adjustments were made to visual effects for Eye Sores to make it easier to see the maze.
Primordius
Mutated Abomination effect once again reduces his damage taken from non-Fully Mutated players by 75% on 10-player and 25-player Heroic difficulty only.

Bug Fixes
Fixed a crash that occurred when Gnomes or Taurens log into the game while riding a mount over water.

Incomplete LFR Runs
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I've suggested the same thing the OP mentioned several times. "Prefer full run." It would serve no other function other than letting the queue system know who are 'wildcards' that are fine with fewer than all the bosses and who are not. That way, if there are two people right there back to back in the queue where one wants all the bosses and the other simply wants to be put further into the instance (like a valor farmer)... it knows the difference.
One thing to keep in mind is that the matchmaking system is already quite complex. It's already checking a lot of conditions, and prioritizing those conditions to get people into dungeons as quickly as possible.

The more you start to separate people by preference in the queue, even if the system is told to ignore the preference after X amount of time has been spent without being able to adequately fill (or backfill) a group, the more you dramatically inflate queue times for everyone. I totally agree that it can be annoying to often be placed in an in-progress dungeon, but the cons of many of the changes we've seen proposed by players would almost certainly outweigh that inconvenience.

We've also put in several measures to ease the burden a bit, without having to further complicate the matchmaking system and impact queue times. One thing I can appreciate about joining a raid in-progress is that I'm more likely to get the VP reward much more quickly. In situations where I care about the points more than the loot, I benefit from getting to the last boss sooner. And, if I do want loot and need the points, I can queue again and almost definitely get a fresh instance, kill the bosses I didn't yet, use bonus rolls for extra shots at the bosses I did kill (which will be even more effective in 5.3), and finish the dungeon for an extra VP bonus. If I decide I don't want to kill the same bosses again, someone else will have to suffer this same fate.

Keep in mind, too, that the need to backfill raids spikes with the release of each new Throne of Thunder wing. Success rates in the new content aren't as high (it's new!), and so you're seeing more people give up on groups, perpetuating the need to backfill raids. What we've tried to do is still make it worth the average person's time to finish the dungeon, while ensuring the matchmaking system tries much harder to give you a fresh instance if you requeue after not getting one the first time.

It's really about striking that balance between being accommodating, and being efficient. If a condition was set which allowed players to control whether they receive a fresh instance or not, wait times for everyone would be unacceptable, and potentially indefinite at odd hours of the day.

But for those of us that may be limited on time and need the loot that can drop our raid time is used for the convenience of the others in that group that needed a backfill and we have no shot at the things WE needed it for. Some of us do NOT have the time for double queues.

At least before it showed us if it was in progress and we could choose not to enter if we did not want to deal with that.
That was changed specifically because of the negative cascading effect it had. Not only was that a clunky, frustrating way of trying to force the queue to give you what you wanted (a fresh instance), it caused many raids to simply fall apart. Once people started leaving, and others refused to join, those left in the dungeon were out of luck. And you could say "sucks for them," but the ripple effect will just come back around to you. We saw it in action prior to patch 5.1, and it had a debilitating effect on the entire matchmaking system.

No where did I say 'full run only.' I said 'prefer full run.' There wouldn't be any 'only' about it. You don't get to make the choice. You simply let the system know what you would prefer. Nothing else would change. It would affect nothing other than letting the queue system know the difference between 'only wanting valor' and 'trying to do them all the first time.'
The point I was making in my first post was that this isn't going to yield the results you want. If you're simply asking for the queue to acknowledge your preference, it's probably not going to cater to it (if it doesn't now, why would it just because you checked a box?). But if you want the queue to separate players into pools based on a selected preference, every bit of calculation it makes before deciding when each individual has waited too long for their preference is going to inflate wait times exponentially for everyone.

Going to be simple with you Zarhym, The LFR finder system blows. The loot system is awful. My brother COMPLETED 5, that's right FIVE, unfinished LFRs for the SAME ONE. Only on his 6th try did he finally get a fresh run.

Waiting 30 mins AT BEST to an average of 60 mins a few times a week just to be able to down 1 boss is a joke and many people don't have time for sitting around. You said that people had priority for a "fresh run" after completing an unfinished one. So? where is that?
Like I said, the system tries to strike a balance between being accommodating, and being efficient. If you've completed an in-progress dungeon and requeue, the matchmaking system will prioritize you for a fresh run. This was happening very normally in LFR after being introduced in patch 5.1. That said, if the rate at which people are abandoning in-progress instances hits a high enough threshold, the matchmaking system isn't going to be able to both backfill raids AND create fresh ones in a reasonable timeframe. This is what you're seeing in the new dungeon wings as more groups struggle with less familiar content.

Patch 5.3 - Gamon
Everyone has a role to play in the upcoming war, even Gamon! He got a few upgrades in Patch 5.3, as he is now a level 90 Rare Elite with 39 million health.