[WoRBot]

General Vezax Encounter Changes

Quote from: Crygil (Source)

We wanted to make players aware of several changes made to the General Vezax encounter upon the release of patch 3.2, which weren't noted in the official patch notes.

These changes affect both 10-player and 25-player modes. First off, when considering the hardmode of the encounter, the mechanics were overly favoring groups that made heavy use of Restoration druids (Omen of Clarity procs) and “Enhancement”

shamans using healing gear (Shamanistic Rage and Improved Stormstrike) to circumvent the mana restrictions. Omen of Clarity will no longer proc for Restoration druids, and Enhancement shamans receive a healing debuff similar to the ones Retribution paladins have had since the encounter’s initial implementation.

Recognizing that this would make the encounter far more difficult for raid groups that have come to rely on those mechanics, we also made changes to ease the overall mana burden when attempting the hardmode. The health of General Vezax and the Saronite Animus was reduced by roughly 25%, and the Animus will now spawn after six Vapors, down from eight, assuming none have been killed.

In addition, prior to 3.2, General Vezax could be very erratic in the use of some of his abilities, leading to long gaps between Shadow Crashes in particular. His behavior in this regard is now more consistent. As a side-effect of this change, in 25-player mode in particular, he will also cast Searing Flames slightly more often – whenever his Fire school isn’t locked out by player interrupts, essentially. Finally, because the “more consistent” Crash use ended up being a bit on the frequent side, a minor hotfix recently increased the period between Crash casts.

End of Arena Season 6 Coming Soon

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)

We are currently planning to end Arena Season 6 as early as August 25. At that point we will go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week. It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific titles and/or Furious Gladiator’s Frostwyrm to refrain from transferring their character to another realm until after Arena Season 6 ends.

The following Arena Season will not begin for at least one week after the current season ends. During this time between seasons, all rated matches will be turned off and only skirmishes will be available. When Arena Season 7 begins, all team ratings, personal rating, and arena points will be wiped, but matchmaking rating and honor points will remain.

Ozzy Osbourne: Live on Stage at BlizzCon 2009

Quote from: Nethaera (Source)

Ozzy Osbourne, the only mortal to openly challenge the Lich King’s claim to the title "Prince of Darkness" and survive, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8maUTzE48&fmt=18) will take the stage live at Anaheim Convention Center to rock the closing ceremonies of BlizzCon 2009.

Although tickets to the convention sold out in minutes, you can still join in with the 'BlizzCon Virtual Ticket' ( http://blizzcon.rayv.com/ ) live Internet stream or via DIRECTV Pay Per View. The Virtual Ticket will feature 18 hours of BlizzCon coverage, including Ozzy’s live performance, as well as the BlizzCon 2009 exclusive in-game pet: Grunty the Murloc Marine.

Check out the official press release to learn more. http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/090811.html

[Flayne]

In regards to the DirecTV feed, apparently today a bunch of podcast fan sites were contacted by Blizzard and told DTV has an exclusivity clause in their contract so no other broadcasting will be allowed on the premises.

[Kody]

Interesting. Got a link to that? Or was it something you heard rather than it being posted somewhere?

I know last year there was an exclusivity clause as well which prevented live streaming and recorded footage longer than 5 minutes.

[Leviathonlx]

Flayne said:

In regards to the DirecTV feed, apparently today a bunch of podcast fan sites were contacted by Blizzard and told DTV has an exclusivity clause in their contract so no other broadcasting will be allowed on the premises.

In the end there probably will be some streams up of the new expansions announcement at least (which is the primary think I am concerned about). Everything else I am perfectly fine waiting 2 minutes or so to read on a site.

This post has been edited by Leviathonlx: 11 August 2009 - 07:23 PM

[zakayron]

inthe title you mean soon™ right? the reason i say this is they say as soon as august 25th but that could also mean it ends on halloween or somthing i mean it is bliz we are talking about here.

[Flayne]

Kody said:

Interesting. Got a link to that? Or was it something you heard rather than it being posted somewhere?

I know last year there was an exclusivity clause as well which prevented live streaming and recorded footage longer than 5 minutes.

Only "public" one I can see atm is on the front page of wcradio.com who also covered the con in previous years and they at least act like something changed.

[Leviathonlx]

Flayne said:

Only "public" one I can see atm is on the front page of wcradio.com who also covered the con in previous years and they at least act like something changed.

I don't think Blizzard realizes how much they really are starting to hurt the spirit of Blizzcon with them wanting to get money out of it in every way possible and then not letting fansites do their stuff.

This post has been edited by Leviathonlx: 12 August 2009 - 12:19 AM

[Kody]

Leviathonlx said:

I don't think Blizzard realizes how much they really are starting to hurt the spirit of Blizzcon with them wanting to get money out of it in every way possible and then not letting fansites do their stuff.

It's an expensive event to run, so I don't blame them. Just like subscriptions and box sales go to allowing them to continue making great games, the ticket costs and pay-per-view help cover BlizzCon to ensure it remains an amazing event.

[Leviathonlx]

Kody said:

It's an expensive event to run, so I don't blame them. Just like subscriptions and box sales go to allowing them to continue making great games, the ticket costs and pay-per-view help cover BlizzCon to ensure it remains an amazing event.

It's an expensive event to run that sells out in minutes and while I fully understand that all the revenue from WoW doesn't go to Blizzard I do know that they make more than enough to not have to try to get money from Blizzcon in every feasible way. I think it is sad to tell a website that they cannot do any recording because of DirectTV but at least I know there will be plenty of people who will ignore Blizzard and hide their cameras if they have to.

I just refuse to pay 40 dollars to see a expansion announced since anything else I am perfectly fine reading a summary of. Anything on SC2 will be about how they managed to further delay the game by not getting BNET 2.0 done and anything about D3 will be the new class which will be on the D3 site followed by some information that will likely change before the game comes out by the end of next year at the earliest. The only other interesting WoW things will be on the new expansion which will easily have a few cameras at and the only class info I am interested in is my own. I know there are people who want to see everything for themselves so the 40 dollars is worth it more for them.

This post has been edited by Leviathonlx: 12 August 2009 - 02:22 PM

[Szentia]

Kody said:

Interesting. Got a link to that? Or was it something you heard rather than it being posted somewhere?

http://wcradio.com/n...erage-cancelled

A news item about this on the front page would be great.