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PTR Realm Maintenance & Patch info
Quote from: Dresorull (Source)
Good Morning,
The PTR realms will be coming down for maintenance today at 11:00am PST. There will be a new patch available to download once the realm maintenance has finished. This patch will only be able to be applied by players that have upgraded their accounts to Wrath of the Lich King. If you do not currently have an account that is upgraded to WotLK, you will be unable to connect to the PTR during this testing phase.
This thread will be updated when an ETA is available for when the realms will be up again.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Blue Post Video: February 28th to March 2nd
If you missed yesterday's recap or would rather a video summary of the important stuff, the latest video blue post recap is available. I've embedded it below, but as always, make sure to leave feedback for the creator.
Blue Posts
PTR Glyph Vendor (Source)
On a side note, we're working to get a test glyph vendor created. It won't be ready for the next build to hit PTR, but we'll have it later.
The RNG And How It Affects Gameplay (Source)
We have no problem with RNG to a point. WoW is an RPG and we think part of that is having a random component to the outcome of some events. We realize some players would like to remove most RNG from the game, but that isn't our stance. Where RNG is a problem, especially in PvP, is when the outcome has too much influence. RNG is bad when it feels like who wins or loses an Arena match too often comes down to a single random roll.
A few examples:
-- The dispel system started to feel too random. Chance are you wouldn't be able to dispel something, but once in awhile you could, and that changed everything.
-- Random stuns became a problem. An ability with a 100% stun chance can be balanced around say its cost or cooldown. Random stuns are just an unpredictable bonus.
-- Too much random damage. Sudden Death (the Arms warrior talent) was a problem here. It approached the point of having a percent chance to kill a target or a percent chance to do almost nothing. (Don't confuse the fact that Arms damage is too low at the moment with their burst being too high before we changed this ability.)
One of the keys is whether you are talking about a few random rolls or many. If it is many random rolls, then the probability tends to even out over time. A 50% chance to proc something will happen about half the time as you approach infinity. We don't think the RNG nature of Windfury is a huge problem because it isn't always coming down to a situation where if WF had proc'd, you would have won the match. (Having that happen once in awhile is fine -- that is probably the definition of a very close, exciting match.) Over the course of an Arena, WF tends to proc with about the same frequency. If WF was a 2% chance to boost damage by 50X, then that would be too much RNG. The balancing problems we've had with Windfury have a lot more to do with its total contribution -- whether it does too much or not enough damage overall, and less about the random nature of the proc.
We have also backed off the design where all certain specs bring to PvP is MASSIVE DAMAGE LOL. We have been trying to give more specs more utility-based abilities (say on-demand CC, or on-demand CC breaks). If Enhancement is not competitive in PvP, we'd rather address the problem through this direction.
Dual Spec Talent Swap Slash Command (Source)
Additionally there is a new slash command which you can use to switch between specs, /usetalents. This works as you might expect, with /usetalents 1 corresponding to your primary spec, /usetalents 2 your secondary.
Why not build Replenishment into core class design? (Source)
Because it makes classes with Replenishment someone you want to invite.
While WoW permits and encourages soloing to some extent when compared to some other MMOs, the endgame for both PvP and PvE are designed around grouping. We like that it matters who you are grouped with. We don't want you to be able to just bring all of your buffs with you. We like that you are much more powerful when grouping, in part because you benefit from the stacking effects of so many different buffs.
Replenishment is a very powerful and unique buff, meaning it' isn't just another version of more attack power or spellpower. However, you can't stack more than a couple of Replenishment classes and gain additional benefits from Replenishment alone. For 3.1 we expanded the number of classes who offer Replenishment to give you more flexibility in how you earn the buff.
Now all that said, you can group without it. There isn't a guardian at the door who checks for Replenishment before it lets you pass. Mana regen will be harder for you than a group with the buff however, and you may need to compensate in other ways, such as how you gear or the other buffs you have. If your dps is high enough and your tanks survive, then the threat of running out of mana won't be so scary.
Why can't I boot the vendors off my Traveler's Tundra Mammoth on the PTR?! (Source)
It's a bug. We'll have it fixed before 3.1.0 goes live.
Does soloing require a DPS spec? (Source)
We don't design soloing to require a dps spec. In fact with the spellpower changes, healer dps is higher than ever.
However, you may find soloing to be faster with a dps spec. Often killing things more quickly makes questing faster, and dps specs are always going to be able to kill things more quickly. That's what they do. Being able to heal yourself is a useful tool when solo, but having dps so high that the target dies quickly is also a useful tool.
I have leveled with tanking specs and healing specs. It can definitely be done and depends a lot on how fast you want to move from quest to quest.
Is Dual Spec being designed to alleviate the "healer shortage"? (Source)
This is an incorrect assumption.
Our design direction is not to change our designs at all as a result of this change. We are going to design instances and talent trees while pretending this feature does not exist.
Examples of things we will NOT do:
1) Have a fight that requires 8 tanks, because you know, half the raid can change specs.
2) Have a fight that requires some obscure talent, because surely someone can afford to swap into it.
3) Let Arms be the PvP tree and Fury be the PvE tree, because warriors can just switch out.
4) Have a buff spec with low dps and a damage spec with high dps, and expect players to buff then swap specs.
While realistically we predict almost every high level player will use a dual-spec, we aren't assuming you have access to it. Furthemore, all the feature does is make it easier for you to do something you could already do, which is hearth back, respec, and get summoned back.
Raids & Dungeons
Immortal-style Achievement For Ulduar (Source)
We will see what achievements we decide to make for Ulduar, but honestly I would not be surprised if an immortal-style achievement was one of them. There can be some frustrating scenarios that cause this to fail like disconnects, but unless it is a mass disconnect it can be worked around a lot of the time. Overall, in my experience, it is almost always a player's fault for failing on Undying/Immortal by getting a little careless and not remaining focused on the achievement goal.
Glory of the Raider-style Meta Achievements (Source)
These meta achievements aren't meant to be easy. Making it by boss would make it much much easier.
Glory of the Raider Mount Removal (Source)
We are fine with removing the plagued/block protodrakes and adding in new mounts to achieve through Ulduar. While the old achievements won't provide a new mount at all, the new ones give players something new to shoot for.
Gonna Go Where the Volcano Blows and Glory of the Raider (Source)
No plans to remove this achievement. If you want to get it you can not do 3drake Sartharion for a week and get it for a bunch of people. If you feel the loot is more important, focus on that instead. Prioritize.
Stance on PTR Patchwerk Tank Testing Results (Source)
It is too early to have a "stance." We are still looking at the data and finalizing all of our tanking changes. But I can offer you some rambling thoughts.
1) When cooldown tank abilities have too long a cooldown they don't get used because you tend to save them for emergencies. When they are too short, you just blow them whenever because they will be back up. Hitting that sweet spot is tough especially when there are multiple cooldowns that can be chained.
2) The Patchwerk test used in these tests doesn't have the kind of timed, big hits that generally encourage players to save their cooldowns.
3) DKs are probably too good on tanking fights that do have those kind of timed, big hits if they are magical. Unfortunately the one really hard encounter in the game is a dragon that does just that.
4) Avoidance may be too high given what tier we're in.
5) We are trying to make frequent PTR builds. Part of that means it isn't feasible to go office to office and make sure everyone has every change checked in before we make a build. In some cases we change abilities and things like glyphs or set bonuses get left behind.
We greatly appreciate the numbers and the amount of effort players are putting into generating and interpreting those data. Let's please stick to analysis and not jumping to conclusions about who is getting benched in Ulduar.
If I need to say it again, the goal is that you can have any of the four classes as your MT, so long as that player has sufficient skill and appropriate gear and is backed up by a raid that knows what the blank they are doing.
Player versus Player
Grand Black War Mammoth and Master of Wintergrasp (Source)
It's quite a possibility that this will be removed from the meta achievement at some point too, we'll have to wait and see.
Resilience (Source)
We increased the budged of resilience because we felt like PvP gear was too attractive in Burning Crusade. Because of that, and because this gear was initially too easy to get, it forced a lot of players to feel like they were supposed to head to the Arena to improve their character, even if they had no business or interest in trying to compete in there.
The problems we feel like we had with resilience at the start of Lich King were different:
1) We launched relatively easy PvE content before PvP gear was available. As a result, players entered PvP with really awesome Naxx gear.
2) Introductory PvP gear was too difficult to get and not available from day one. As a result, some players were going into Arenas with almost zero resilience and getting blown to bits.
3) Burst damage was initially too high, which 1 and 2 just compounded. We think it will be in a better place when 3.1 ships. We are already seeing plenty of "invulnerable healer" threads, which suggests that just burning people down is harder now. (And I don't mean to imply that is our sole measurement on how balance is working out.)
4) BC brought a lot of free stamina to almost everyone. We didn't increase health as fast as we increased damage, which ended up making players feel a little fragile initially.
Ideally (and what we very well might do next time) is to try and launch the first tier of raid content at the same time as the Arena season, or at least give players a head start on accumulating PvP gear before the season starts. It's also likely you will see player health increase more, and PvE content balanced accordingly.
Now resilience is a tricky thing. Some players are going to blame any loss in Arenas on resilience being too weak. It is sometimes difficult to sort out the effects of skill from the effects of the game balance. You are going to die in Arenas a lot, even if you are a great player and everything is working as intended (which as I said above, is not currently the case).
Death Knight
Does Obliterate still have a use? (Source)
Here is our stance:
Unholy -- doesn't need Obliterate if you have Scourge Strike. (Protip: you do.)
Frost -- uses Obliterate when Howling Blast is on cooldown or doesn't make sense (e.g. might break CC).
Blood -- uses Obliterate unless you need healing, in which case you use Death Strike.
You are welcome and encouraged to point out situations that break that model, but understand that we're still messing with the 3.1 talent trees.
Dual Wield DPS (Source)
I was clarifying that was not our intent. We are not trying to kill DW tanking at all. We are trying to kill DW dps from being vastly superior to 2H dps, which it was.
Howling Blast's 3.1 Nerfs (Source)
We don't have a problem with DW tanking or DW dps. Whenever I say something about DW tanking it is usually to say that we don't want DW tanking to dominate. Before the Stoneskin Gargoyle rune, having two tanking weapons was a big benefit to DW, and in a world with crushing blow, "parry instagibs" are much less scary now.
That said, the Howling Blast changes were much more about DW dps builds. Death knight dps was just too high across the board, especially with certain hybrid builds. If we're convinced we fixed the problem, then we might improve Howling Blast damage again (though we might imcrease its cooldown).
Hunter
Marksmanship Mana Issues (Source)
Marks running OOM too often we feel is a legitimate problem and something we plan on improving.
Wild Hunt (Source)
Wild Hunt is being changed to 10/20% extra AP from the master. There was a bug where the talent was just applying the hunter's AP to the pet twice, which is too generous.
If you have 6000 attack power, your pet probably gains 1320 attack power from you. With 2 ranks of this talent, it should gain 1580 attack power instead. Your pet's attack power will be higher than this by a few hundred from other sources.
Paladin
Current 3.1 Retribution DPS (Source)
Retribution dps, especially in PvE, is lower in 3.1 than we want.
Warlock
Additional Pandemic Change Likely (Source)
We have posted a couple of times that we don't think the Affliction changes make sense unles dots can crit for 200% damage.
However, we are probably more likely to just allow Pandemic to grant that bonus rather than make taking Pandemic also force you to pick up Ruin. (Most PvE locks do anyway, but not all PvP builds include it.)
Warrior
Stance Dancing in 3.1 (Source)
Most likely, rage loss with regard to stance dancing will not change in 3.1.
We don't think the system we were exploring has enough benefits over the current implementation to warrant the change.
1 Minute Cooldown Shield Wall (Source)
The cooldown of Shield Wall is not intended to be that low.
Rage Generation When Absorbed (Source)
This is a buff to warriors versus priests.
However, warriors also received a pretty hefty nerf versus priests that not many players are talking about. Specifically, you will no longer be at zero armor in PvP situations.
3.1 Arms Changes (Source)
We still plan on making some Arms changes for 3.1.
StarCrat II Blue Posts
Since I know a lot of you are looking forward to the game (it's a reason we track it with the Blue Tracker), I wanted to post a recap of the recent blue posts since there was a bit of activity yesterday.
Protoss Air (Source)
The Protoss Phoenix has anti-gravity now and it is great at harassment, especially with more than one Phoenix in a pack. These harassment groups can easily lift workers and other strategic targets like Queens to be taken out while floating in the air.
Protoss Phoenix: Anti-Gravity (Source)
The Phoenix's anti-gravity ability is no longer a channeling, so the same Phoenix which casts the ability can also shoot that target which is lifted in the air.
Protoss Zealots: Will they path through a line of Immortals? (Source)
In that scenario, Zealots will walk around line-ups of Immortals and will attack Siege Tanks.
Protoss Mothership: Can you cloak it with Dark Pylons? (Source)
You can cloak your Mothership with your Dark Pylon's Null Shield.
In this case, the enemy can't see anything in your base without a Detecting unit.
Zerg Overlord and Overseer (Source)
Overlord has the Generating Creep ability initially and can have the Transport ability after researching at the Lair.
Overseer has Detecting ability as passive and Healing ability on the biological unit or structure. and Overseer can spawn the Changeling.
Zerg Overlord Clarification (Source)
Sorry for the confusion. You can get Generate Creep ability after the Lair.
Zerg Overseer: How much does the healing ability heal for? (Source)
200, currently.
Zerg Nydus Network (Source)
You need the Lair to build Nydus Network.
You can mutate your drone into Nydus Network with 150 Mineral and 200 Vespene Gas.
From your Nydus Network, you can summon multiple Nydus Worms at any place on the creep and each Nydus Worm cost 100 Mineral and 10 seconds build time.
Units can enter a Nydus Worm or Nydus Network and exit through any other Nydus Worm or Nydus Network.
Which type of Command Center can build SCVs? (Source)
In the current build, you can train SCVs at all three Command Centers regardless of the upgrade.
Only Planetary Fortress can load SCVs up to 5, but you can't lift off Planetary Fortress, while you can lift off Command Center and Orbital Command.
What happens when you try to land a Command Center on a Siege Tank? (Source)
If the Siege Tank is in tank mode, the Siege Tank will move out for the Command Center to land.
When the Siege Tank is in siege mode, you can't land the Command Center on it.
MultiQuote
got my Loremaster, before they nerfed the requirements. I was not the first but i do not think there are many who even come close to getting that Achievement still. I must admit that people on my server do not really care about doing the achievements , only getting badges, and we all know Hero badges are only gonna be good for Frozen orbs, and Valor badges are only gonna be good for turning into heroes for the frozen orbs. I am that person who wants to do everything who wants to know that I earned my gear and titles and rewards. I am an "Elitist" in a game full of "i want it nows" But still removing rewards from achievements is lame and makes those not as appealing to even attempt. 
