5-man-dungeons
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Warlords of Draenor: Blizzard wants to offer regular new 5-mans
Lead Encounter Designer Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas has given those of us who really missed 5-man content beyond the first patch of Mists of Pandaria something to really look forward to in Warlords of Draenor. @WanderingDru @devolore @celestalon Thanks. We want to make this happen. I think it'd be awesome too. - Watcher (@WatcherDev) January 17, 2014 The blog post to which he's responding is one that talks about the lack of 5-mans in Mists. You should check it out, it's a good read. The writer talks about how they feel like they can participate in social interaction in a group of five people, but feel lost and overwhelmed in a group as large as that in LFR. This is a really reasonable complaint, and one that I doubt the author is alone in their concerns. They also bring up how, with the absence of the "trinity" of tank, healer, and DPS roles; scenarios do not serve as a viable replacement for dungeons.
Warlords of Draenor: The return of hard heroic 5-mans?
Just occasionally I'll see a blue post that gets me really excited. And today, I saw one. Blizzard EU Community Manager Taepsilum posted in response to a thread about the difficulty of 5-man dungeons. It's a really long post, so do go and read it, but I'm just going to pull out the exciting stuff for now. He mentions, firstly, that Warlords will see the return of normal and heroic modes at max level, and goes on to add that "WoD heroics will be much harder than MoP heroics". This is music to my ears. MoP has been a terrible expansion for 5-man content. And, while I appreciate that my experience is not the same as everyone's, 5-mans are some of my very favorite content to do to grind points, to grind gear, just to do for the sheer fun of it. I have hated the absence of new, relevant 5-mans in Mists. It's also something Blizzard devs are keenly aware of. And the latter ones in Cataclysm weren't that great either, yes there were a few tricky moments in Well of Eternity, but as ever, Blizzard overcompensated for players' complaints that the early Cata 5-mans were too hard.
There will be no more 5-man dungeons in Mists, not Warcraft
Back in the dev interview that GamebreakerTV did we learned that Blizzard isn't planning any more 5-man dungeons in Mists of Pandaria. What has been lost in translation, however, is the fact that this just applies to Mists and not WoW in general. Dave Kosak tweets: Okay ppl listen (especially you, @gamebreakertv ) - we're not planning more 5-mans IN MISTS. The next x-pak will have plenty again! <3 5-man - Dave Kosak (@DaveKosak) March 13, 2013 This whole no more 5-man in Mists thing is kind of a surprise, but that doesn't mean we won't be getting more group content, and small group content in particular. Scenarios have become wildly popular amongst many WoW players, and it's entirely likely that Blizzard is focusing more attention on this. Blizzard has said before that scenarios are easier to design than dungeons, and there might be more room for the innovation therein, which Blizzard is known for pushing.
5 ways to keep your DPS players happy in 5-man heroics
OK, you can't pretend you didn't see this one coming after the healing and tanking editions. As I may have mentioned, I have less DPS experience than tanking and healing, but from that time in Azeroth, I have gathered that there are things everyone can do to make their DPSers happy bunnies rather than melancholy murlocs. Actually, being a murloc would be pretty cool. One of my GMs does an awesome murloc impression. So, tanks and healers, and other DPSers, how can you keep your DPS buddies happy? 1. Mark your targets. Tanks, or whoever is experienced, or whoever is taking on that role in the dungeon, mark your targets. Telepathy is not a standard talent in any tree, and while sure, it's possible to click the tank and then use an assist macro, you can easily keybind or add a button to your action bars that marks your target with a skull, a cross, a moon and so on.
Blizzard's Tom Chilton on World of Warcraft's patch 4.3 and beyond
It may be hard to believe, but World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion has been out for the better part of a year now. All the while, players have been on a long and arduous adventure to defend the lands of Azeroth from the nefarious Deathwing and his minions. In an interview with Blizzard's Tom Chilton, Joystiq brings to light some details on the dragon's imminent demise as well as a few insights on what players can expect from WoW's patch 4.3: Dragon Soul. Chilton details the upcoming Transmogrification system, which allows players to customize the appearance of their gear by transferring one item's graphic to another. He also discusses the new Void Storage system, which grants increased storage space, with the caveat that any item stored in the void will be stripped of all gems and enchantments. The pièce de résistance of the whole affair is, of course, the final showdown with Deathwing himself. Players will have to traverse three separate five-man instances, which will culminate in a huge battle that doesn't just feature Deathwing as the opponent: He's the battlefield as well. But we don't want to give it all away, so head on over to Joystiq for the full, juicy interview.
Reader UI of the Week: I am Jack's multi-purpose
Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com, and follow Mathew on Twitter. Greetings, Reader UI of the Week fans. Everyone seems to have some sort of food poisoning or stomach problems this week, and I have no idea what is up with that. We have a national stomach epidemic here in the United States. Here's something that won't upset your delicate bodily balance; Jack's smooth and slick user interface setup, centered around grouping, dungeons, and questing. While I am a raider at heart, my recent obsession has been with players and nonraiding UIs. Not that I think that there is anything wrong with a raiding UI, but as someone who primarily lives in raiding content, it is interesting to look and see what 5-man-focused UIs are built around. With the coming of the Raid Finder in patch 4.3 as an introductory raiding system, more and more players are going to have to adapt their 5-man UI setups to a raiding environment if they want to succeed in taking down the big bosses of the raiding world. Jack's UI is a competent setup that can make the change and stands up on its own two legs.
