class-changes
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Star Wars: The Old Republic explains 3.0's Sniper and Gunslinger
Star Wars: The Old Republic finishes up its series examining the class changes coming with the 3.0 update today with the Sniper and the Gunslinger. Why were those two the last on the list? Probably because they were hiding way in the back. That's sort of how they do things. As both of the base classes (Smuggler and Imperial Agent) have seen some significant changes, some of the changes to Snipers and Gunslingers focus around keeping the core utility of the advanced classes while removing unnecessary or superfluous buttons. Sharpshooter/Marksmanship are fairly unchanged from their current incarnations, save for a new ability replacing an older ability in regular rotation. Engineer/Saboteur is largely unchained, but the changes to abilities should produce smoother overall rotations. Last but not least, Virulence/Dirty Fighting specialties both gain a new ability that functionally replaces an older option and a new passive ability to spread damage over time. Check out the details on the new tricks on the official development blog.
BlizzCon World of Warcraft - Items, Class Changes, and More liveblog
The halls are abuzz with Overwatch, but what's in store for World of Warcraft? The World of Warcraft panel, covering items, class changes, garrisons and more is starting up at 4:45pm Pacific time, and we'll be liveblogging it right here. An assortment of WoW devs will be on hand to discuss all the changes in Warlords of Draenor, as well as new features of the expansion that's set to launch next week. Updates will be in reverse-chronological order, with newest updates at the top of the page. If you only want the latest update, you can stay near the top. If you missed the beginning of the panel, scroll to the bottom.
Class tuning hotfixes
Yes, turns out they're still at work adjusting class tuning before we go into Warlords of Draenor. Some classes saw buffs, other classes saw another round of savage nerfs. Death knights and balance druids saw some buffs, as did elemental shamans, while mages saw a 20% nerf to frostbolt's damage (rolling back a buff from October 17th) and warriors got pummeled. A complete list of the class changes will be posted after the jump.
How your Guild Wars 2 class will change in September
When Guild Wars 2's second feature pack crashes down on our heads next month, there will be none of us unscathed from its impact. A new dev diary posted today reveals that the feature pack will contain balance changes for all of the game's classes. Among the changes are a rework of Elementalist and Thief grandmaster traits, love for Engineer kits and elixirs, an improved Spirit Bow ability for the Guardian, a revamp of the mimic skill for the Mesmer, improved survivability for the Necromancer, more flexible pet choices for the Ranger, and tweaks to the Warrior's adrenaline resource. Overall, it all sounds pretty positive, although there could be a nerf or two lurking in the mix.
Allods Online debuts class change coupons
If you're feeling stuck in a rut in Allods Online and think changing up your class might freshen things up, today's announcement from Webzen might be the news you've been waiting for. The studio has just unveiled a new in-game item that allows you to instantly change your character's class and try life on the other side of the fence. Here's how it works: Once per week, core morpher coupons will appear on the Allods auction house. Only one coupon per class will be available. If you win the auction, you'll be able to grab the coupon out of your in-game mail (for subscribers) or redeem it via the item shop (free players). Once in your inventory, the core morpher coupon enables you to switch to a new class while keeping all of your equipment progress through a system that gives you class-appropriate items that match the rarity and power of the items you currently have. Webzen advises that you mull the decision carefully, as you may change classes only once per month and you'll be competing with many other players to win your class's weekly auction.
A foundation for future growth: Examining LotRO's class restructuring
Let's start out with the elephant in the room: The comprehensive and radical class changes that are coming to Lord of the Rings Online with Helm's Deep have a portion of the community rattled. After all, we are protective of our characters and concerned about changes that affect them, and this looks to be a doozy. You want to hear a secret? Turbine's a little scared too. When asked if this might become LotRO's NGE -- the reviled shift in Star Wars Galaxies' gameplay structure -- the devs said it's something they've been asked a lot these days. They know that there's a part of the playerbase that's fearful, and in all honesty, the devs have had a few sleepless nights over the changes too. But past the fear is the certainty that this is the course the game needs to take right now, and that certainty grows by the day as they continue to test the changes on the beta server. The team told us as such during a class tour today, going on to show us the scope of what's going to happen. What we're looking at here is the old class trait system thrown in the trash to be replaced by specializations and trait trees, as well as the paring down of many class skills into a more manageable number. It's going to impact everyone all at once, so if this is your game of choice, you'll want to read on.
Turbine defends LotRO class changes
Arguably the biggest feature coming with next month's Helm's Deep expansion for Lord of the Rings Online isn't the new landscape, epic story, or big battle system, but the overhaul of the classes and the institution of the new trait trees. Turbine took to the pulpit today to preach about why the devs felt it was necessary to overhaul the system. There were several reasons given for the class changes. The devs felt that skills were losing potency the more they were added, there were many skills not being used, class builds were too much alike, the combat tempo needed more pep, animation times were sometimes too long, and it was just taking a lot of time for the devs to try to keep everything in balance. "These are big changes," the devs state. "They take some getting used to. We know this. We also know that for the good of the game and its longevity, we sometimes need to make big changes."
Patch notes for August 20th
The Siege of Orgrimmar is just three weeks away, and we can expect that the changes for patch 5.4 are starting to solidify. Blizzard released the notes for the latest PTR build yesterday and there are some notable changes as well as reminders -- such as the fact that these next three weeks mark the final opportunity you have to nab the achievements that correspond with Vol'jin's rebellion as well as the Golden Lotus's "Eternally in the Vale." Time to get going on those, if you want them! Frost DKs: Frost Strike now deals 115% weapons damage (up from 105% weapon damage), and Obliterate now deals 250% weapon damage (up from 230% weapon damage). Rogues: Glyph of Redirect now reduces the cooldown of Redirect by 50 seconds (down from Redirect no longer has a cooldown). Other major changes are noted in red text, and we've summarized the biggest ones for you after the break:
Dev Watercooler: On patch 5.4 class changes
It's been a little while since we've last seen any Dev Watercoolers, but boy, was this one ever worth the wait. Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street lays out, in reasonable detail, the general thoughts and ideas behind many of the class changes coming in the next WoW patch, starting with Death Knights and going the whole way down the list. Paladins and Hunters especially have a lot of meat to their discussion sections, as Ghostcrawler explains, because many of the changes coming to those classes are relatively complex and require greater explanation to fully understand. Overall, classes and specs facing significant changes are blood DKs, resto druids, all hunter specs, frost mages, mistweaver monks, all paladin specs, combat rogues, affliction warlocks, and protection warriors. In addition, there are many changes to talents and glyphs for all classes and specs. As a raiding restoration druid, I personally am very happy about a lot of the changes coming our way. Making Nature's Swiftness a base resto ability in particular is a nice return to some Good Ol' Days, and now I'll have to decide whether I want the new Ysera's Gift talent, or Cenarion Ward (for now I'm leaning Cenarion Ward). I also--from the perspective of a resto druid--find the discussion on the state of holy paladins, and the changes coming their way, to be interesting as well. Ghostcrawler talks a bit about the way the developers at Blizzard believe paladin healing should feel, and specifically contrast it against druid healing. Many players have long pointed out how druid healing and paladin healing were basically opposites on a spectrum--the former being primarily pre-emptive, healing over time focused, and the other being primarily reactive, direct healing focused--and it's fascinating to read about the official thoughts on just those differences. The full blue post is after the break.
Poll: Do you think Blizzard will ever offer class changes?
Intrepid reader Grace wrote in posing this question to us, which started us thinking about why class changes aren't on the menu for WoW players. Blizzard lets you do lots of things to your WoW character after you've created it. Besides leveling it up, you can change races, you can change factions, you can change names, you can change servers, you can change your appearance, and you can even change the looks of your gear with transmogrification. But one thing you're stuck with is your class. However, while most of these changes are superficial, cosmetic things, class is not -- the class of your character is intrinsic to its identity, and you learn how to manage any class by spending time playing it. But when class changes hit our favored characters hard and we see greener pastures in a newer, more interesting class, leveling an alt -- and then gearing it up -- can make for tedious work. And sometimes all we really want to do is shift from one healing class to another, to better hone our skills or work with our group. So here's the question for you: Will Blizzard ever offer class changes? Should they? %Poll-82681%
SWTOR wraps up expansion class changes with the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular
Star Wars: The Old Republic has finished up the last of eight dev diaries featuring changes to the game's classes following Rise of the Hutt Cartel's release. On the docket for today is the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular, mirrored classes that have mirrored adjustments. Both classes now have stronger heals (Dark Heal and Benevolence), cooldown-free shields (Static Barrier and Force Armor), and class-wide access to 10 seconds of faster casting and interrupt blocking (Polarity Shift and Mental Alacrity). Both classes also have been treated to a new skill, Force Barrier, which offers total protection for up to 10 seconds of channeling. There are plenty of other detailed changes to the advanced classes and roles, so check these diaries out if you're in tune with the Force in a way that makes the rest of us jealous.
Ghostcrawler and Daxxarri talk classes in patch 5.2
With the advent of patch 5.2, World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg Street "Ghostcrawler" and Community Manager Daxxarri have been posting a series of class overviews and changes. Part one went up on Tuesday, covering death knights, druids, and hunters. Part two was posted Wednesday evening and covers mages, paladins, and priests. Part three, on rogues, shaman, and warlocks, went up yesterday evening, and part four, covering warriors and monks, was posted earlier today. For many classes, most of the changes involve PvP balancing as well as trying to improve a number of talents in some way to make them more useful and thus more attractive to players, at least situationally. If you're curious about either the philosophy of class balance design or just want to know what happened to your class this patch, make sure to check it out. What I love about these posts is that little glimpse of insight they provide into the thought process that goes into balancing the class mechanics in a game like World of Warcraft. I'll be honest, I'm glad I'm not one of the people involved in that job. To me it seems like an endless headache to try and make sure all classes are different enough to feel unique, but similar enough such that a raid or dungeon group isn't punished for lacking one indispensable class, and I wouldn't have the patience for it. But I certainly admire and respect those who do!
LotRO commits to housing revamp, player council, and more Rohan in 2013
Turbine's Kate Paiz might be brief in her Lord of the Rings Online producer's letter, but this economy of words holds a treasure trove of ideas for the year. In the letter, she outlines the primary goals for the game in 2013, including a much-requested housing revamp and further expansion into the Rohan region. Paiz outlines four initiatives for the year. The first is forming a player's council to facilitate discussion and feedback between players and the dev team. The second is adding Western Rohan to the game, initially through a region called Wildermore in the spring and later through a bigger addition in the fall. The third is the aforementioned housing revamp, which will take place later in the year. The fourth initiative is an effort by the team to make "significant changes" to classes. "We will be making some significant changes to the skills and traits of the Free Peoples classes," Paiz writes. "We'll be pruning out skills that just feel disappointing in play and increasing the potency of others. The end result will be fewer skills, but a more profound impact on moment-to-moment play."
Ghostcrawler and Dave Kosak switch jobs for an evening on Twitter
When the Ghostcrawler is away, apparently the Kosak will play -- or at least, take over Ghostcrawler's job for a few days. Those following Dave "Fargo" Kosak or Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street on Twitter may have caught a flurry of tweets from the two. It all began with an innocent enough notification from everyone's favorite crustacean, letting followers on Twitter know that he would be fairly quiet over the next few days. Dave Kosak decided to respond and note that he would be taking over class tweets in the interim. Chaos, of course, ensued. Rogues? Nerf. Mages? Nerf nerf. Shaman? BUFF. 4th Shaman spec uses HATS instead of totems. Done. - Dave Kosak (@DaveKosak) January 27, 2013
Patch 5.1 official patch notes
Welcome to the beginning of war and the arrival of patch 5.1, Landfall. While this patch does not contain any new raid content, it is full of changes to pet battles and classes. And don't forget the new content -- an entirely new series of quests await adventurers in the heart of Krasarang Wilds, along with new scenarios to unlock. Included in the official patch notes: Scenarios now include Dungeon Finder queue features, including leaders, backfill, vote to kick, and deserter debuffs. Roles are still not required. Raid groups are no longer required to enter pre-Mists of Pandaria raid dungeons. Get to farming! Speaking of old raid dungeons, a variety of new pets have been added to old raid bosses. For fans of Pet Battles, be sure to check out the new Battle-stones, used to upgrade the quality of pets. Read on for the full list of patch notes for patch 5.1.
Patch 5.1 PTR patch notes update for Oct 23
An update to the patch 5.1 PTR has just been released, with a bunch of new changes and adjustments. Along with a ton of class tweaks, there are plenty of changes and updates to Pet Battles and more. Most importantly and probably top on everyone's priority list is a change to raids that players have been waiting for for a very long time. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines -- as of patch 5.1, you will no longer need to be in a raid group to enter a pre-Mists of Pandaria raid. Scenarios are now going to include Dungeon Finder queue features like leaders, backfill, and vote to kick. The Dragon Kite can now be used in Pet Battles! Are balloons far behind? We hope not. Read on for the full list of updates.
Massively's LotRO Riders of Rohan launch-day roundup
When you first heard about Lord of the Rings Online, you probably had an idea of which areas from the Lord of the Rings lore you'd want to visit and which events you'd like to take part in. Not all of the areas in Middle-earth were part of LotRO when it launched, but with each expansion the game world gets a bit more complete. Developer Turbine has been hard at work developing iconic areas like the Mines of Moria and Isengard, but the zone players have been anticipating the most is the Plains of Rohan. The Riders of Rohan expansion goes live today, opening the visually stunning Plains of Rohan area and introducing tons of new content, class updates and gameplay changes. Developers have been careful to capture the feel of the plains in not only the area's art style but also its impressive musical score. The Riders of Rohan expansion adds a new mounted combat feature that lets players fight on customisable war horses. The open plains are filled with roving warbands of orcs and other challenges to be overcome. Read on for a run-down of all the latest news on the Riders of Rohan expansion.
Breakfast Topic: What's your favorite part of 5.0.4?
Patch 5.0.4 has arrived, laden with goodies like account-wide pets, mounts and achievements. But oddly enough, none of these things were my favorites from this patch. AoE looting is fantastic and was easily at the top of my favorites list before I logged in, but it paled in comparison to something else, something far quieter that I hadn't really considered a huge part of the patch. My realm is a terribly small realm off in the corner of nowhere. I have my character's hearthstone set to Dalaran, partially for the easy access to the Caverns of Time and partially because I like Dalaran. It's a little lonely, but quiet. There are maybe a half-dozen people there, usually. I logged into Dalaran yesterday and was abruptly taken aback because the place was packed. In my excitement over everything else, I'd forgotten all about the cross-realm zones that were being introduced. It turns out my quiet little corner of nowhere was now populated by tons of people from another realm altogether. And it turns out that realm is the home of a friend of mine from Twitter, a fellow blogger. For the first time ever, I got to say hello to her character and pose for screenshots and generally be a silly idiot. I'd forgotten how it felt to be in the midst of a bustling city. I'd forgotten how it felt to have activity at all hours, and I'd forgotten how nice it was to just run into someone I knew out of nowhere. And in that moment of giddy, silly screenshot frenzy, cross-realm zones abruptly shot from something I hadn't even considered to the top of my favorites list. So what's your favorite part of 5.0.4? Is it having all your achievements on all of your characters? Is it finally being able to ride around on all of your mounts? Is your pet collection completely amazing? Or is it the sudden discovery that in the great big World of Warcraft, you're not quite as isolated as you used to be?
LotRO's Wardens to get much-needed streamlining
Just in case any of you Wardens in Lord of the Rings Online have actually got a handle on the class after the previous 1,437 iterations, Turbine's throwing a few more monkeys in the gambits for you. The studio posted the changes that Wardens will be seeing with this October's Riders of Rohan and admits that the class needed more streamlining. With the expansion, Wardens will get a pair of new gambits and an improved root at high levels as well as a couple of travel skills. There are plenty of other changes and quality of life improvements that are probably gobbledygook to anyone other than practiced Wardens. Long story short, the team's hoping to clarify several skills, condense others, and create more synergy between the buffs.
What to expect from patch 5.0.4
Patch 5.0.4 will be here on Tuesday, Aug. 28. As with other pre-expansion patches, 5.0.4 will include some important changes that will reflect gameplay in Mists of Pandaria. To be perfectly clear, while this is a pre-patch for Mists, it is not Mists itself and shouldn't be confused with the game we'll all be nabbing on Sept. 25. While there are some features from the beta that we'll see go live with this patch, others will not be released until the new expansion goes live in September. This is a confusing time for some players, because they're not quite sure what to expect when it comes to the pre-expansion patch. Will new features be rolled out? Will we see new instances or profession changes or playable pandaren? To avoid confusion, here's a short primer on what you will and will not see in patch 5.0.4.
