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Official Mists of Pandaria launch times
If you've downloaded the Mists of Pandaria expansion already and are dying to know when you can log on and start playing, wonder no more. Blizzard has the answers for you, my friend. Kaivax - Mists of Pandaria Launch Times The official Mists of Pandaria launch times are as follows: North and Latin American realms - 12:00 a.m. PDT, September 25 European realms - 12:00 a.m. CEST, September 25 Korean/Taiwan realms - 12:00 a.m. KST, September 27 With this expansion, we're using a new bit of tech that will unlock the expansion content, make the intro quest magically pop up in your quest log, and allow you to begin playing the expansion immediately without the need to log out and back in. If everything goes as planned this will be a smooth transition to the adventures that await you in the new continent. See you in-game! source There you have it. You won't even have to log out to play as soon as Mists of Pandaria goes live. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Blizzard takes a new look at low-level class balance
We've all heard complaints about how, as new talents and abilities are added to the game, low level character balance (especially in PvP) gets thrown out of whack. Now Blizzard has thrown open the forums to discussing the issue, as CM Kaivax posts a forum thread asking for feedback on which talents, abilities and classes need rebalancing attention. Holy paladins in low level PvP come up a lot for whatever reason. It's a very active thread, too, with several responses over the course of its existence discussing low level PvP as well as itemization and what's wrong with fury warriors. (That last bit may have caught my attention, not gonna lie.) So if you have some opinions that you can back up with reasonable arguments, head on over to the thread and give Blizzard a sense of what you're seeing in game. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
More details on Diablo III's real-money auction block
It's controversial, it's unique, and it's still not actually running in the game proper. It's Diablo III's real-money auction service, and it's getting a new wrinkle added: In order for players to use the service, they'll need to have an authenticator attached to their accounts. This is being done to help ensure that the auction house is as safe as possible for all players. It also means that players will need to accept a new set of agreements when the feature finally goes live. Community manager Kaivax has also chimed in on the real-money auction house, noting that it's possible that the feature will launch with only item-trading functionality rather than allow players to buy and sell commodities. This is largely based on trying to ensure that the latter market remains active and fair for all players, and if the team decides to go this route, the commodity functionality will be added at a later date.
Annual Pass beta invitations have all been distributed
It would be an understatement to say that the Annual Pass beta invitation process did not go as expected for anybody involved, Blizzard included. Who knew well over one million World of Warcraft players would sign up for the program, all of them anxiously awaiting an invitation to the Mists of Pandaria beta? Thankfully, according to community manager Kaivax, the final round of beta invitations has been sent as of today. Final Annual Pass Beta Invitations Sent The World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion ended May 1, and we recently sent out the remaining Mists of Pandaria beta invitations. Check your games list in Battle.net Account Management for the Mists of Pandaria beta. You can download and install it from there. Again, thank you for your enthusiasm and feedback. To provide feedback for the Mists of Pandaria beta, we invite you to please post in the Beta Feedback forum. source If you're an Annual Pass subscriber and you haven't received your beta invitation yet, don't panic! Betas do have a tendency to take their sweet time appearing in your games list. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Optional boss modes making a comeback in Mists of Pandaria?
Kaivax hit the forums to answer a player's question about Ulduar and talk about the fondness the dungeon has retained amongst the playerbase and where the optional boss modes have gone. Back during the first half of Wrath of the Lich King, "choose your own difficulty" encounters and in-fight hard mode triggers were staples of the encounters in Ulduar and the Obsidian Sanctum. When Trial of the Crusader launched, Blizzard implemented the UI-based difficulty toggle. Players have expressed desire to return to the old days, feeling that the toggle method is just too robotic when encounters could be designed around cool difficulty-swap mechanics. In his post, Kaivax hints that the design teams are thinking about bringing back these mechanics for some fights in the upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Rather than selecting a normal or hard mode toggle before pulling an encounter, Ulduar raid groups were tasked with completing different objectives during the encounter or defeating the boss mechanics in a different order to activate hard mode. Famously, players would press a large red button behind Mimiron labelled "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON," activating the encounter and a rather angry Titanic watcher. Other fights during Wrath of the Lich King such as Freya and Sartharion featured a "choose your own difficulty" mechanic wherein the player's choices before the encounter increased or decreased the boss' overall difficulty. Harder combinations of abilities would yield more impressive items. Will Mists of Pandaria bring back our beloved "choose your difficulty" encounters and in-fight hard mode triggers? I know I'd like to get another Sartharion-style encounter, especially with mount rewards like the original provided. Read the full blue post behind the break below.
Ask The Devs: Healing answers coming Friday
The healer edition of the ill-fated Ask The Devs series has been taking quite a bit longer than previous editions of the series. The healers among us took notice of that and hit the forums to find just what the heck was taking so long! Late last week, Blizzard's Nethaera explained that the answers were delayed due to the devs' being preoccupied with other obligations. Today, community manager Kaivax announced that the answers would be released Friday of this week. Ask The Devs 11 Healing Answers Coming Friday We will be posting a new sticky thread with the answers to thirteen of your most popular questions (on the subject of healing) on Friday, July 15th at 9AM PDT. source That may the simplest, most straightforward blue post we've seen in nearly seven years of World of Warcraft. No qualifiers, no "Soon," and no wordplay. High-five, Kaivax. You may be my new favorite.
Blizzard unveils patch 4.2 Dungeon Journal Preview
One of the more exciting GUI elements coming in patch 4.2 has to be the new Dungeon Journal (formerly the Encounter Journal), a tool that allows you to research basic elements about various boss fights, the bosses' loot tables, and their abilities. Blizzard answered some questions about the feature 2 months ago, but the only way to get a real feel for the Dungeon Journal was to log on to the PTR yourself and take a look, which our own Matt Low did last month. With patch 4.2 likely to drop next week, and with the Dungeon Journal undergoing some minor tweaks since its launch, Blizzard has decided it proper timing to give us all an official preview of this great new tool. The preview shows and explains the different aspects of the Dungeon Journal, from the sortable gear listing to boss mechanics. The latter aspect -- boss mechanics -- has proved to be quite a controversial feature amongst those who worry the information contained therein will ruin bleeding-edge progression. Though it's unlikely to quell those concerns, Blizzard once again addresses them in the preview: 4.2 Dungeon Journal Preview Our goal is to give a solid foundation for taking on the boss, a general sense of how the encounter will play out, and some context to the abilities, without taking the place of creating independent strategies. source For those interested, we have the full preview available after the break.
