1. Upcoming Wintergrasp Changes
The short version of this post is that Blizzard is going to be making it easier for the underdog on a server to win in Wintergrasp by changing the current sliding scale to give a greater advantage to whichever faction has lost two consecutive games. Click through for the full version of the story and a behind the scenes look at Wintergrasp mechanics.
2. Could BM Hunters get some Help?
If you’re a BM Hunter then you might want to click through to read the full post from Ghostcrawler. Otherwise this is probably all that matters to you:
Ghostcrawler says: We’d like to buff BM PvE damage, but we have to be careful not to buff it too much in PvP where it still has really high burst. This means we can’t just do things like boost the Arcane Shot damage of Ferocious Inspiration or the like. The damage would have to be more of the slowly stacking / sustained variety, and that’s harder to implement.
3. WoW Subscriptions & SC2
The OP wants to know why World of Warcraft subscribers weren’t given an automatic beta invite to Starcraft. That a blue even deigned to respond to such a monumentally stupid question is surprising in the first place. The idiotic logic that it takes to reach the conclusion that Blizzard should give an automatic beta invite to a playerbase that runs into the millions is staggering. Nethaera is more diplomatic, pointing out that they want people in the Starcraft 2 beta to be people who are interested in Starcraft, but we all know that this is one of those situations where the Blizzard poster wants Ghostcrawler to introduce a patch that will allow them to remotely detonate the accounts of particularly stupid forum posters.
4. PTR Patch 3.3.3 Notes
Click through to give the notes a read. I’ll have more on the site later after I’ve had a chance to read through them and find the interesting bits.
5. How does Blizz plan to update the cities?
They plan on updating the cities, they have ideas in place, but in typical Blizzard fashion they aren’t telling us anything.
6. 3.3.3 PTR Status
The PTR is live if you’re into that sort of thing.
7. Druids left out?
Druids didn’t get a mention in the initial version of the patch notes and they were upset at the lack of lovin’. Luckily Ghostcrawler was ready to swoop in and let’em know that everything’s gonna be all right, baby, he was only thinking of them the whole time:
Ghostcrawler says: The patch notes are not done. While, frankly, Tranquility is not something we’re going to mess with, we do want to add more burst to Balance for PvP purposes. If some of that spills over into PvE for more damage overall, I don’t think many druids would complain.
8. Please clarify: 3.3.3 World Event Bosses
The new patch notes mention that world bosses can only be reached through the Dungeon Finder. The blue post simply clarifies that yes, you have to use the Dungeon Finder to reach world bosses. If you go into a world boss instance without using the Dungeon Finder then you’ll find an empty dungeon.
9. Did we hurt the Devs feelings?
The penalty debuff for dropping out of a Dungeon Finder group has been increased from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. To compensate for the sudden lack of quick turnaround if you’re unlucky enough to get stuck in a bad group they’ve helpfully eliminated the 15 minute limit on initiating a Vote Kick. It should all balance out in the long run.
And more on that later in the thread to quiet worries about immediate Vote Kicks from power players who don’t want to deal with casual players while they’re grinding out badges:
Zarhym says: This might not answer your question — which may or may not have been rhetorical anyway — but we did find that a lot people were clicking “Yes” on the Vote Kick alert, then later asking, “why did we kick that guy?” The idea is to make the person who wants to kick someone from the group give everyone else a reason. If the reason is silly or defamatory, a surprising number of people could very well reject it.
While many people are quick to take into account all of the worst possible scenarios with any presented changes to the game, we find that those cases are typically the minor fringe cases once the changes are put in action. The patch notes are out and the speculation is brimming, but let’s see how things turn out before clenching our crystal balls, shall we?
10. Patch 3.3.3: Frozo The Renowned
Just gonna copy and paste this one:
Zarhym says:
I’m sure some of you noticed this in the 3.3.3 PTR patch notes:
- Frozo the Renowned has moved into the Dalaran Magus Commerce Exchange and will be trading your Frozen Orbs for various other trade goods.
For those curious, here are the items for which you can trade your Frozen Orbs to Frozo. These each cost 1 Frozen Orb unless noted otherwise in parentheses:
- Crusader Orb (6)
- Runed Orb (4)
- Eternal Fire
- Eternal Earth
- Eternal Water
- Eternal Air
- Eternal Life
- Eternal Shadow
- Frost Lotus
- Pattern: Frosty Flying Carpet [Tailors Only] (6)
11. Change current badge/emblem system, please…
Stick with me for a minute on this one. Blizzard has been actively attempting to make it easier for all players to get into the endgame. They’ve also been actively publicizing the fact that they’re trying to make it easier for people to get to endgame content by implementing things like the badge system, the Dungeon Finder, etc. Most everybody is on board with this and thinks that the changes are a good thing as it allows the broader population to see endgame content while also allowing for a bleeding edge of raiding content at an astronomical difficulty level with insanely high iLevel rewards for people who want to invest the time equivalent of a part-time job into raiding.
Also remember that the game is a steady progression through content where eventually the new content reaches a high enough level that it doesn’t make sense to progress through old content. At some point it’s far more cost-efficient to just leapfrog that old content and move on to the new. The leapfrog is more pronounced in some cases – you don’t see people running through Molten Core before moving to Outlands or Karazhan before hitting Northrend – and more subtle in other cases such as when you have people skipping Heroics from the beginning of an expansion because it’s easier to gear up with equipment from the latest content patch.
So this post is really nothing more than the typical tired old line of hardcore raiders complaining because the content that used to only be available to them is now available to everyone. So to the OP in this thread and to the elitist raider mindset in general I say this: Go f*** yourself and let us enjoy the game the way we want to at the pace we want to. Go ahead and waste your time validating your existence by being the first person on your server to have a particular shiny purple item while the rest of us catch up later using the balanced system you hate so much.
12. What am I to do with 25 Arena points?
You save them up and spend them on honor or use it as bonus cash accrued over time when you go to buy your arena gear like with every other gear vendor in the game, jackass. Blizzard is more diplomatic about it than I am if you click through to the post.
13. Assault on the Ruby Sanctum
New dungeon raid to start the transition to Cataclysm!
Zarhym says: As we prepare for the public testing phase of minor content patch 3.3.3, some players might come across information regarding upcoming content that isn’t yet available. To avoid any confusion, we’d like to tell you about an exciting new raid dungeon we are working on for content patch 3.3.5.
The Ruby Sanctum
A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.
The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion’s servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.
The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release.
