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Deathcharger Mount, ICC Normal Attempts Removed, Blue posts

, Today at 9:27 AM.

Update - Added Recent In-Game Fixes - February 2010 - 02/08

Icecrown Citadel Attempts removed on Normal

Quote from: Daelo (Source)

After each region's maintenance this week, raids will no longer lose attempts on wipes in Normal mode for Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. There will still be limited attempts in Heroic mode.

We will continue to monitor developments in Icecrown Citadel in the future, especially since the Heroic difficulty has been unlocked by a significant number of raids.

Update Follow up time!

Q: If you extend your raid lockout this week, will you still lose attempts on Normal after the hotfix?
A: No.

Q: If you run completely out of attempts on Heroic, will the wing bosses and Lich King no longer respawn, even if the difficulty is switched to Normal?
A: YES. So leave an attempt left if you wish to kill them on Normal. I'll try and correct this in a future update.

Q: Why is the counter still visible in Normal?
A: The hotfix being applied just stops the counter decrementing, and nothing more.

Recent In-Game Fixes - February 2010 - 02/08

Quote from: Crygil (Source)

Listed below are recent fixes we have applied to the game. Keep in mind that some of these changes may not be active until after the realm has been restarted.

To review previous in-game fixes, please visit: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21723843880&sid=1

02/08

Sindragosa's Mystic Buffet will now pulse every 6 six seconds, up from 5 seconds. In the normal 10 player encounter the debuff increase has also been slightly reduced.
In the Toravon encounter, the effect of the Whiteout debuff has been reduced. Additionally, the damage done by Frozen Orbs has been reduced.

Patch 3.3.2 - Deathcharger Mounts
Patch 3.3.2 introduced a new Crimson Deathcharger mount spell to the game, I'm not really sure where this mount is supposed to drop but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't fully implemented yet.

There is only one mount spell, but there are actually two new deathchargers creatures Azure Deathcharger and Crimson Deathcharger, it could be the sign of another faction-based quest/achievement reward in the future. Keep in mind that according to Blizzard, patch 3.3.2 wasn't the last minor patch to be deployed before the release of Cataclysm.

Blue posts

Quote from Blizzard staff

Love is in the Air Perfumes (+75AP buff, etc ...)
These items are set to disappear when the Love is in the Air event ends. (Source)

Easier itemization in Cataclysm
We aren't trying to kill spreadsheets or simulators, and I'm not even sure we could. The situations where two pieces have different stats but provide an equal dps increase are always going to be rare.

The problem we're actually trying to solve is where one stat is so far superior to other stats that the rest of the item is irrelevant. Currently, most casters prefer haste over crit to the extent where they might use an item from a previous tier. That's not ideal (though obviously something else could be going on with their decision, like they are passing to someone else to be nice or they have a better upgrade in mind on the next boss or whatever). In Cataclysm, given an item with haste versus one with crit your spreadsheet might still tell you the haste item will provide more of an upgrade. But hopefully it won't be such an upgrade that the decision becomes a no-brainer. Hopefully the other stats on the item will come into play more. It's too easy currently to focus on The Best Stat to the exclusion of all else. (I'm not talking about stats such as spell power, attack power or Strength, because for most of your pieces, those just scale with item level. I'm talking about the secondary stats where the real gearing decisions come from.) (Source)

Overhealing and mana pools in Cataclysm
That's a relative softball question, because the problem is healers overheal by so much now *and* can get away with it. If you actually care about your mana pool, then regen (Spirit in Cataclysm) matters. If you actually care about mana, then getting bigger heals (such as getting crits) matters too.

Now imagine that as a druid, your mastery stat does something interesting to your hots. It has to be *interesting* or it's just going to mimic the effects of spell power (Int in Cataclysm). Let's say mastery increased the duration of your Rejuv, but did so without reducing the healing per tick. Now Mastery helps throughput, but doesn't help burst healing as much as crit. If haste also affects how often your hots tick, then you might get some interesting gameplay out of playing off of longer hots that tick more frequently. If you don't need to spam heals as much as you do today, then reducing cast time through haste isn't as important to a healer, though it still might be desirable. Now you can make interesting (we hope) choices about whether you want more crit, more haste, more mastery or more spirit. (Source)

Itemization and power growth
Yeah, exponential power growth is just part of the design. It doesn't really bother us that the delta between character level and item level keeps growing. It might be a problem someday if it takes scientific notation to express how much Agility there is on your breastplate.

The problem folks are referring to for this expansion is that we based combat ratings, especially things like crit and hit, off of one assumption for what gear would look like in 4.3, but adding the hard modes meant that the gear ended up having more stats than we thought. If we ended up squeezing in additional tiers into Cataclysm the same thing would happen, though we also have some ideas to make the scaling work better in general.

Lich King Weapons Changes, Blue posts

, Yesterday at 10:52 AM.

Upcoming Lich King Weapon Changes
A couple of days ago a message was posted on the official Korean site to announce upcoming changes to the weapons dropped by the Lich King, as far as I know these changes affect both normal and heroic versions of the weapons. Thanks to locriani for the help with the translation!

Quote from Blizzard staff

Good morning from the WoW community team.

Some of the weapons from the Lich King are not as good as we had hoped. To encourage you to want these new weapons, we have decided to change some of the old combat ratings over to better ones. We have obtained a preview of these changes, for your perusal, on behalf of the Beijing development team.

25-Man

Royal Scepter of Terenas II: MP5 replaced with Haste Rating
Archus, Greatstaff of Antonidas: Critical Strike Rating replaced with Haste Rating
Heaven's Fall, Kryss of a Thousand Lies: Armor Penetration replaced with Haste Rating
Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas: Haste Rating replaced with Armor Penetration

10-Man

Stormfury, Black Blade of the Betrayer: Armor Penetration replaced with Expertise

Lich King Video by Might
Might (US - Turalyon) released their video of the Lich King encounter in 10-man. If you check the first seconds of the Part 2 you will see the Frostmourne room that we couldn't see in the first video I posted.

Blue posts

Quote from Blizzard staff

Lovely Charm Bracelet from killing blows only
You can get these from any mob "of worth" so you can do any sort of kill quest to get these including from killing any mobs involved in daily quests. [...] Yes, it comes from killing blows. On my healing character, I've had no issues with getting these, (other than when I forgot to have empty space in my bags for them.)

[...] I did not get them from instances. It's pretty easy to grab a bunch of mobs and kill them solo and just as easy to get them via daily quests (or even normal questing) that you are working on as you're doing them.

The event just started so, no, there are no current plans to change the functionality of this. Should we feel it's necessary to make a change, we'll let you know. (Source)

Tanking Cooldowns
One caution is you have to be really careful in how you factor in cooldowns to estimates or simulations of tank survivability. Some attempts just assume that e.g. Barkskin is responsible for X% of damage not done over the course of the encounter. That might be true on some encounters, but it definitely is not on others. When you can or need to use those abilities makes a big difference. On some fights, those cooldowns just give you a little slop room if the healers have a lot on their plate or have to move or something. On others you just aren't going to survive without a cooldown. (Source)

Dispells in Cataclysm
We'll talk more about the Cataclysm dispel design when we get a little closer. Overall the philosophy is that a dispel should be a counter. That means, to us, that you should have to consider when it makes sense to use. Dispels shouldn't be a test of how quickly you can mash that key when you see the icon pop up. Dispelling at the wrong time should cost you. We also don't want to see such extremely different outcomes depending on the class of dispeller you have with you. (Source)

Itemization in Cataclysm
Actually, we aren't trying to make gear choices easier. We like when it's a hard call on whether to upgrade vs. stick with what you have, etc. In designer parlance terms, that is an "interesting decision." Non-interesting decisions are typically no-brainers.

We want to remove some of the confusion over a complicated stat system, which we think we can do without reducing the system's depth. In fact, the other motivation for the stats overhaul was to solve some of the problems where a certain stat trumps all or a certain stat is always junk. If we nail that, then gear choices will actually be harder in Cataclysm, not easier.

As an example, when you aren't close to a crit cap and when buffs don't provide so much crit and talents don't provide so much crit, then haste vs. crit can be a pretty interesting choice. Haste lets you cast spells faster, but crit makes those spells you cast hit harder. At a very basic level you are choosing more spells vs. bigger spells, but because of a number of other factors, it's not that cut and dried. Haste may provide a dps increase for a caster according to a spreadsheet, but it depends and it might cause you to change your rotation. If you have spell A that hits so hard that you need to use it on cooldown, and spell B gets boosted by haste, then you can run into the situation where more haste on B isn't an improvement because you can't squeeze in another B before it's time to use A again. If you aren't able to capitalize on the extra haste, then more isn't always good for you. (That's in an ideal world. The way stats work in Icecrown, if you like haste, it's nearly always a no-brainer stat for you.)

Comparing armor pen vs. say attack power is much mathier, because they really just both buff melee damage in pretty much the same way. The only time it matters is when you're near a cap or if you're a spec that does a lot of spell damage. But you learn pretty quickly for your spec whether armor pen is an awesome stat for you or just an okay stat.

Many of your gear choices in Cataclysm should come down to haste vs. crit vs. mastery. You may still have one of those you like the most, but it shouldn't be double the value of the other stats, so you may have to look at the total package of stats on that item (Do I need more hit? If I take that hit, can I swap it out somewhere else?) Add in set bonuses and procs, and I'm not sure the gear choice will be all that easy, but it should be easier to understand. (Source)

Rogue
Vanish
We tried a different approach to fix Vanish in a recent patch while it was up on the PTR. It didn't fix the problem (which has everything to do with spells already being in the air) and let rogues use Vanish as a second Cloak, which wasn't the intent. When we backed out that change, we said we were going to try a different approach where we calculate when spells are launched on the server side. Nothing has changed since then and I really can't give you any more information than that. Making more "Lol Vanish doesn't work" threads isn't going to speed that process along, and will just continue to annoy other forum participants.

02/05 Hotfixes, ICC Weekly Quests, Blue posts

, Yesterday at 10:51 AM.

Recent In-Game Fixes - February 2010 - 02/05

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

Rimefang now flies less frequently in all raid formats.
Animated Bones summoned by the Anub’ar Necromancers, no longer award experience when defeated.
The amount of damage being absorbed by sacred Shield and Power Word: Shield is being reduced by 10% correctly in only battlegrounds, Arenas, and Wintergrasp.
The range of the Lich King’s Remorseless Winter aura has been increased in Halls of Reflection.
The Val’kyr Shadowguards in the Icecrown Citadel Lich King raid encounter should always properly pick up their target.
Deathbringer Saurfang should gain blood power less rapidly in normal 10 and normal 25 player modes and players can also no longer zone in while this encounter is active.
Sindragosa’s Backlash ability can no longer crit.
The Fountain of Light proc effect can now heal players outside of the caster’s party.

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)

The rejuvenation procs from the Druid Tier 10 will now work better in a raid group and not avoid targets that have any rejuvenation spell on them though it will continue to avoid targets that have the casting druid’s rejuvenation on them.

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)

The damage bonus done by Devastate has been appropriate increased to be in line with the changes made in patch 3.3.2.

Icecrown Citadel: Raid Weekly Quests
The Icecrown Citadel weekly quests are now official.

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

Now that Icecrown Citadel has been fully unlocked, allowing players the ability to progress in 10- and 25-player formats to defeat the Lich King, new raid weekly quests have been unlocked! These quests are specific to the Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon and do not correspond with the standard random raid weekly quest offered in Dalaran. Here's an overview of what you need to know.

One of five quests will be randomly available each week in both 10- and 25-player versions of the dungeon. This means each player has the opportunity to complete two Icecrown Citadel raid weekly quests each week if the dungeon is run in both versions, however, these quests have to be completed within the raid version (10- or 25-player) in which they are offered.

If a player obtains one of these quests but does not complete it that week, the quest will automatically be removed from the player's Quest Log the next time Lord Marrowgar is defeated under a new raid ID, or when zoning into an instance with a new raid ID where Lord Marrowgar has already been defeated. This only applies if the random raid weekly offered when the player enters a fresh Icecrown Citadel raid instance happens to be different from the one already in his or her Quest Log. Players can otherwise simultaneously have both the 10- and 25-player raid weekly quests in their Quest Logs and complete either of them at any time during the week in their respective raid versions. The quests given each week in 10- and 25-player versions of Icecrown Citadel will be randomly determined once Lord Morrowgar is killed, or once a player zones into an instance where Lord Morrowgar has already been killed.

The Quests:

Deprogramming - Look for a rogue named Infiltrator Minchar outside of Lady Deathwhisper's chamber. He'll speak of a brainwashed operative who needs saving from the lady's powerful means of influence. While engaging Deathwhisper, keep an eye out for a warrior named Darnavan among her minions. He must live if your raid group is to succeed in completing the quest.
Securing the Ramparts - After taking the platform up to the ramparts from Lady Deathwhisper's chamber, a lieutenant of your faction will seek your help in slaying the Rotting Frost Giant on the other end of the ramparts terrorizing his troops. Bring the monster down and return to the lieutenant for your reward.
Residue Rendezvous - Should you succeed in killing Deathbringer Saurfang, you will soon meet Alchemist Adrianna upon lurking further into the citadel. She will task your group with the unfortunate job of being infected by both a Green Residue from Rotface and an Orange Residue from Festergut. While infected with both residues, at least one player from the raid must speak with Alchemist Adrianna in order for everyone in the group to receive credit.
Blood Quickening - Outside the Crimson Hall awaits Alrin the Agile to inform your group that his friend, Infiltrator Minchar, has been captured by the San'layn for interrogation. Should you choose to help in rescuing Minchar, you will have 30 minutes from the moment you step foot in the Crimson Hall to kill Blood-Queen Lana'thel before she executes him. Fortunate enough for you, she will not kill Minchar if she is busy fighting your group.
Respite for a Tormented Soul - If your group can successfully free Valithria, she will morph into her humanoid form to offer you a quest in a more approachable manner. Providing each player who accepts the quest with a Pulsating Life Crystal, a channeling device, Valithria will speak of a way to save Sindragosa's spirit. Members of the raid who use these crystals on Sindragosa when she is below 20% health will slowly stack on her the Life Infusion debuff. Reaching 30 stacks (10-player) or 75 stacks (25-player) of Life Infusion before she dies will provide the frost wyrm with an aura of Soul Preservation. If your group manages to give Sindragosa this aura before killing her, a quest item can be obtained from her remains to complete Valithria's task.

The Reward:
Completing any of these quests will reward each member of the group with a Sack of Frosty Treasures and a healthy chunk of gold. The sack will contain Emblems of Frost and other potentially valuable items! (Note: See this news)

Blue posts

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

Dungeon Finder Loot System (Auto Disenchant, Auto Roll, etc ...)
We're talking about many ways to improve the Dungeon Finder system, including the way looting is done. The system is quite new and popular, so we want to continue iterating upon it. As you might have expected when seeing the "Blizz" logo on this thread on a Friday night though, I don't have any specific details to share just yet. (Source)

Auction House iPhone Application
We'll let everyone know if and when we get to the point of adding this application to more devices. We're currently focused on getting the functionality working properly for this device at this time. (Source)

Nibelung Hotfix
I updated my last post, the val'kyr heals for 25% of her maximum health and that is intended.

Regarding the proc chance, the recent change made it so other items/procs can no longer cause other items to procs, only spells a player knows. This is why we increased the proc chance for this item from from 1% to 2% but that is still a buff overall. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Sacred Duty Nerf
I don't think the situation is nearly as grim as you're painting it to be. Paladins are still very desirable tanks from a hardcore raiding or casual perspective. The class is still able to attain great mitigation through block talents and maintains multiple lines of defense against mass damage spikes. While, yes, this is a reduction, it is not big enough to break the tanking mechanics that the class plays by. It will have mild adverse effects, but it simply brings the class back into the range of play of other tanking classes. (Source)

Priest (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Trauma Bug

Today, actually. We found a bug where Trauma's pulse would only heal players in that party. For example, a priest in group 1 has Trauma and it procs on the rogue in group 2. Everyone in group 2 can get healed by the pulse, but not anyone in other groups. This obviously limits the amount of healing that the proc can accomplish overall.

We will keep an eye on the weapon after this change and make sure it is accomplishing what we think it should. Please keep in mind that sometimes when we do not immediately buff something it could be because we suspect something else might be going on. We try to keep you generally clued in to our philosophy and intent, but it's just not possible for every issue that pops up in the forums, nor even those with a lot of traffic or the ones you feel very passionate about. If you bring up issues though, we do promise to read them. (Source)

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