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Breakfast Topic: Do you want more patches?
Looking back on the days of vanilla WoW, we had a lot of patches -- and I don't mean that as a figure of speech. Original WoW went to patch 1.12 before Burning Crusade hit the scene. Since then, we've seen fewer patches between expansions -- 4 patches during BC, 3 patches during Wrath, 3 patches during Cataclysm, and, to date, 3 patches during Mists. But with the speed at which Blizzard is rolling out new content lately, I think it's safe to say that we can expect Mists to beat the average number of patches before we get another expansion... but is that too many patches? More frequent patches could mean we're hard-pressed to keep up with all the new shiny toys presented to us... or they could mean plenty of content to keep us busy and interested. But what do you think? Are patches coming too quickly these days? Or are they just frequent enough to keep you interested? Or are patches still arriving too slowly for your tastes? %Poll-82780%
PvP Vendors available again
WoW Insider posted last week about the deactivation of the PvP vendors, specifically those selling conquest gear for honor, thanks to the issues experienced with the Tyrannical Conquest achievement. As the title suggests, the vendors are available again. Senior PvP Developer Brian Holinka took to twitter to announce this: The Glorious Conquest vendors should be available once again - Holinka (@holinka) May 28, 2013 This troublesome achievement, though, is still causing issues for some players. It seems, from what I can gather, that in order to set the achievement off, you need to earn conquest points. Even just earning a single one will make the game re-count your season total, and award you the achievement. This is still the case even if you have earned well over the required 25,000 points in the season. Just win an arena, or a rated battleground, or do the PvP dailies, and you'll be set.
Deepwind Gorge: Simple strategy guide
Deepwing Gorge is the newest battleground in the game, added in patch 5.3. At this precise point in time, it is not in the Rated Battleground rotation, thanks to some bugs, but it will return fairly soon. Nonetheless, this guide is intended for random groups, not for rated teams, who, with additional organization, will be able to execute more complex and precise strategies. What are we supposed to be doing? Good question. There are three mines, the Goblin mine, the Center mine, and the Pandaren mine. I wrote about this in more detail back when this was still on the PTR, but suffice it to say, for now, that the Horde has a slight advantage in getting to the Goblin mine, while the Alliance has a slight advantage in getting to the Pandaren mine. As a result of that, a strategy that seems to work well enough for random groups is to split your team, sending around half to the Center mine, and half to either the Goblin or Pandaren mine, depending on which faction you're playing. You will also need to take a few players, depending on your healer numbers, to get the opposite faction's cart. I've been having success with a warrior and a couple of healers as a cart team, but you will need heals at the Center mine, where most of the fighting will take place.
Patch 5.3 PvP changes
From a PvP perspective, patch 5.3 is one of the biggest patches in a really long time. A really, really long time! WoW Insider has been covering the changes from a PvP angle to a pretty reasonable extent, from the first moment the resilience changes were announced, through the new arena and the new battleground, right up to the more recent alterations to tank damage and the like. All our coverage is collected in one easy place, so do check it out if you're searching for more information. So we've struck upon a few changes already, but let's dig into the patch notes and provide some additional clarity. I've pulled out the PvP-specific items from the patch notes, but if you want to see them in full, that's absolutely fine too.
Your PvP Questions: Spell announcers, MMR and patch 5.3
It's been a little while since I last did a PvP mailbag, and the emails have been piling up! So, if you have PvP questions, do drop me a line, I will do my best to respond to them, possibly in columns such as this one, or if I can fire off a quick email I will. Do note that I'm far from a PvP specialist in all the classes in WoW, and PvP questions which are class-specific would probably be better directed to the relevant class columnist. Janrana wrote: Hi Olivia, since reading about it a while back in one of your columns I've been a big fan of SpellAlerter, but it doesn't seem to have had any updates in a long while and is a bit broken for me. It doesn't seem to have all the spells any more and it also causes some errors to appear when it's on. Do you know of any alternative? As it happens, I do! First and foremost SpellAlerter is alive and well... ish. It was updated for patch 5.1, but hasn't had any further updates since then. It still works at least fairly well, but I wouldn't rely on it completely. At least, it still allows you to set up custom alerts, so if there are spells it's missing you can add them in.
Tie-breakers in the arena
An interesting discussion began on Twitter a few days ago, between ArenaJunkies moderator QTPawzz and Blizzard's Senior PvP Developer, Brian Holinka. The two were discussing arena draws. If you're not familiar with the current system, if in 2v2, team A kills one member of team B, but cannot kill the other, meaning that at the point where the match times out there are two of team A but only one of team B remaining, there is a draw. QTPawzz was complaining specifically about his experience as an affliction warlock, trying to take down a discipline priest 1v1, his own partner presumably having died. QTPawzz' suggestion was a shorter time limit, as well as a mechanic whereby the team that did the highest damage would win. It's an interesting idea, and something Holinka didn't seem averse to, given his responses. It's certainly a question that is likely to be both divisive and highly subjective, depending on the class or role that a player has adopted in PvP. For example, as someone who principally plays healing classes, with a side of DPS, the idea that the team with the highest damage should win in the event of a draw is immediately offputting.
Breakfast Topic: What was your first day in WoW like?
Over on Reddit, there's a thread where users are reminiscing about their first experiences in World of Warcraft which has me feeling nostalgic for the good old days when I'd just started playing and everything seemed so much simpler. Azeroth was a huge new world, entirely unexplored. I didn't know about gear or raiding or even what awaited me around the next corner. Every word of quest text was new and fresh (though, admittedly, some were pretty tedious to finish). And, best of all, I discovered gnomes. The first character I stuck with was a gnome warlock who was both tiny and deadly (and pink-haired to boot). I still haven't decided just what was so appealing about gnomes. Was it because they were tiny and adorable? Because of their bright pink hair color options? Perhaps because they jump just as high as any other race, which means each jump for them is basically leaping their entire height? It's probably a combination (newbie me was very fond of jumping everywhere). And even today, my Alliance characters tend to gravitate back to the gnome race. Perhaps they imprinted on me somehow in those first gameplay sessions, I'll never know for sure. But enough about gnomes: tell us about your start in WoW. Was it a true newbie experience? Did you fall in love with a certain race or class? Even if you just made stupid mistakes, trust us: we've all been there! (As my gnome story proves.) So tell us everything: what was your first WoW login like?
Patch 5.3 PTR: PvP Power percentage nerfs
The latest PTR build has brought with it a change to PvP Power, as MMO-Champion reported earlier today. The change was to the amount of points of PvP Power that it takes to push your percentage up by 1%. The number of points for a 1% increase in PvP Power went from 265 to 400. Currently, if you have, say, 12,000 PvP Power, on live servers you would get around +45% damage from PvP Power, and 22.6% additional healing from PvP Power. On the PTR, however, 12,000 PvP Power will only give you an extra 30% damage from PvP Power, and, at current numbers, which are still fairly fluid, around 30% extra healing. Of course, don't forget with those healing numbers that Battle Fatigue has been increased to a proportionate level. This change was a little surprising, so I did what I always do now, tweeted Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka to get his input on the change. He tweeted the following shortly thereafter: PvP Power change intentional. Reduce gear gap. Reduce bursty damage/healing gameplay. Reduce power of sockets. - Holinka (@holinka) April 27, 2013 Holinka makes some excellent points. This is a great way to reduce the power of sockets, and to bring down the burst which has caused such problems this season, as well as taking healing down in proportion. So what's all the fuss about? Well, players are worried that, with the resilience changes, this will make PvE gear a more equal or even superior choice for PvE come patch 5.3. And it's a reasonable concern. While it's great that PvE gear will be viable for PvP, PvP gear should still be the out-and-out best. I discussed the comparisons between various levels of PvE gear and PvP gear in an earlier article, but this change may well alter these numbers. Both Cynwise and Eldacar, PvP maths masters, are looking at the numbers, so we'll have to wait and see the result. Preliminary reports from ArenaJunkies look good, still asserting that PvP Power is strong enough to beat PvE gear. Also, I can't help thinking that Holinka and his team have considered this issue. To repeat my earlier message, don't panic! Do you want to capture flags, invade cities, attack towers, and dominate the enemy for your faction? Do you dream of riding your War Bear with pride? We'll steer you to victory with secrets of Battlegrounds and Arena, prepping you with proven addons and keybindings that win! Send questions or comments to olivia@wowinsider.com.
Which battleground might get the axe?
We talked briefly about the most recent Ask The Devs on PvP in the patch 5.3 PTR, but one thing that came up which merited further discussion was the following quote: Blizzard Question - (Olivnia, Stormscale): A new battleground and arena are planned for patch 5.3. This is really cool, do we have any more plans for battlegrounds and arenas and what can you share about these? Answer - (Systems Design Team): There is nothing new in the pipeline at this time. We may spend some time fixing older ones. We have a lot of data now about which Battlegrounds players are voting out of participating in, so that gives us some direction on which Battlegrounds we could potentially fix . . . or even cut. source The notable part here is the last bit. Cut a battleground? That's new. Not really what anyone expected. So the question is, which battleground might be cut and why?
Five ways to help a healer in random battlegrounds
Do you wish there were more healers in random battlegrounds? Do you hang your head on the many occasions when your faction ends up with just one healer and the other side has four or five? Isn't your faction just the worst at PvP? Your faction, hey? What scrubs. So, what can you do to improve these healer numbers? What can you do to ensure there are more healers backing you up when you charge a boomkin, priest and elemental shaman at Lumber Mill all by yourself with your trinket on cooldown? Help your healers, that's what. Here's some insight for you from an experienced PvP healer: healing random battlegrounds is really not that much fun. There are various reasons why, and I'll get to them, but what we're really here to talk about is how you can make your healers' experience a better one. Why should you care? They'll keep you alive if you do. And being alive is considerably more fun than being dead! 1. Identification In order to help out your healers and keep them happy in battlegrounds, you'll need to know who they are. Now, when I'm healing, the first thing I'll do on zoning into a battleground is right-click my character portrait, go through the drop-down to set my role, and choose healer. My hope is that, by taking these simple steps, I can point out to those around me that I'm healing. I'm going to be keeping them alive, or trying to.
Potential Patch 5.3 PvP changes from Twitter
If you're even remotely interested in WoW PvP, and aren't yet following Brian Holinka on Twitter, you really should be. We've been talking about him quite a bit lately here at WoW Insider, as he's the main agent behind the huge PvP changes coming in in patch 5.3. He's also incredibly responsive, open and helpful on Twitter, and seems to set aside a huge amount of his free time to respond to players' concerns, and hold open and constructive discussions, while not being afraid to fire out some sarcasm crits on the trolls that often haunt those in his position. He's previously tweeted about the return of the skirmish system, and has been very responsive indeed about the 5.3 changes, and lately he's also been discussing some more confirmed and potential changes in patch 5.3 and beyond. Now, please do take these changes with a pinch of salt, these aren't even PTR patch notes, but potential changes, some of which are being tested and appearing on patch notes, and some of which are just in the pipeline for the future. Potential Battleground Changes One thing that caught our eye here at WoW Insider was a very recent tweet regarding some changes in the the larger battlegrounds such as Isle of Conquest and Alterac Valley.
How to find a rated battleground team
Since Blizzard "fixed" the expansion-long "bug" that allowed players to max out their conquest points through arenas or random battlegrounds, rated battlegrounds, which for the purpose of this column will be referred to as RBGs, have become necessary content for players to max out their cap every week. And maxing out your conquest cap every week is, until patch 5.3 at least, something you would do well to be getting on with. The trouble is that finding a rated battleground team is not exactly straightforward, especially if you're a player who's a little new to the PvP side of the game, so WoW Insider thought we'd run down some of our top tips for finding an RBG team. Of course, there's no cast-iron guarantees here -- we can't be absolutely certain that, even if you follow this to the letter, you categorically will find an RBG team to play with every week. That's up to you. But we can arm you with knowledge for your team-finding attempts! Get Geared This is pretty important, as it's essentially the first hurdle you're going to have for getting into rated battlegrounds. In order to gain entry to a team, whether you're a good PvPer or not, you need to convince people to bring you. Apart from having very high ratings and the like, which isn't usually viable for the newer PvPers this guide is mostly aimed at, one thing people are definitely going to be looking for is gear.
Level 90 PvP Gems and Enchants by primary stat
Everyone knows where to get their PvP gear -- it's on the Serpent's Spine -- and with Blizzard's changes to the gear vendor panes, it's fairly straightforward to whittle it down to just exactly what you're after. However, one thing that's not so simple is the rest of the work you need to do. As we all know, gear needs gems, and it needs enchants, and we've struggled to find a place that pulls together all the PvP options for that, so we through we'd make one. Let's get started. Pure PvP Stats These, naturally, are items that provide increases in neat PvP stats, with no secondary stats. If you look back at my column which covered the changes to resilience, you can see how important these stats are. Depending on your style, class, and the season, these may be the best choice. There are no Jewelcrafting-only pure PvP stat gems. Gems: Stormy River's Heart: 320 PvP Power Mystic Sun's Radiance: 320 PvP Resilience Vivid Wild Jade: 160 PvP Power and 160 PvP Resilience Perfect Vivid Alexandrite: 160 PvP Power and 160 PvP Resilience Perfect Stormy Lapis Lazuli: 320 PvP Power Perfect Mystic Sunstone: 320 PvP Resilience
Analysis of Blizzard's post on patch 5.3 PvP gear
The patch 5.3 PTR notes brought some big, scary changes to PvP, which WoW Insider explained for its readership yesterday, and now Blizzard's official blog has, as promised, arrived. It deals with a lot of the same concerns as we addressed yesterday, but also adds in several pieces of new information for players to digest. Let's start with that. Here are the changes in full: Daxxarri Base Resilience will be set to 65% for all characters level 85 and higher Resilience will be removed from nearly all PvP gear Players will still be able to use Resilience gems and enchants PvP power will remain exclusively on PvP gear PvP set bonuses that currently provide Resilience will now provide PvP Power Healers and hybrid-casters will benefit to a greater degree from PvP Power, and Battle Fatigue will increase to make PvP gear superior for healers. The Big Change: We will be adding an item level ceiling to all gear in unrated Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas All gear with item levels higher than 496 will be scaled down to 496 (Conquest gear item level). This includes even Conquest items that exceed the ilevel ceiling, such as weapons. In addition, some of the changes that we've discussed previously will also be implemented: In patches that don't include a new season (including patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 7,250 Conquest Points earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement must always be met to purchase Elite items, though. Once the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement is reached, players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator's gear with Honor Points. The Conquest Point catch up cap will be introduced. You can read our PvP Gear in 5.2 and Beyond blog for more information on these changes. source
Patch 5.3 PvP Gear Changes: Don't Panic
I can understand why you did panic. The patch 5.3 PTR notes had a little section of PvP gear notes -- five bullet points that pulled the rug out from under our feet. These changes are characteristic of the bold, sweeping alterations that Blizzard's new PvP Designer Brian Holinka has been spearheading since he joined the company in August of last year. And these are big changes. If you missed the notes, let me repeat them for you here. All characters now have a base Resilience of 65%. Resilience has been removed from most PvP gear. Season 13 Tyrannical gear had their item levels increased to ilevel 496, up from ilevel 493. Season 13 Tyrannical Elite gear had their item levels decreased to ilevel 496, down from ilevel 512. Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds, and Arenas now have an ilevel cap. All gear will be scaled down to ilevel 496. What does this all mean? I've been relentlessly bothering Brian on Twitter for your benefit, so let's run down how he's addressing players' concerns. Do note that Blizzard will release an official blog on this some time next week.
Breakfast Topic: What really feels like an achievement?
Achievements are everywhere in WoW these days. There are achievements for collecting mounts, achievements for doing quests, achievements for exploring zones, achievements for completing dungeons... and that's only scratching the surface. How many of you remember the good (or not so good) old days before achievements popped on to our screens to let us know we'd done something noteworthy? Back then it was up to us to decide what was considered a noteworthy achievement and instead of doing them for rewards, we did them just to prove we could. Though it's a lot of fun to work towards achievements, I've got to wonder if we're missing out on deciding for ourselves what's important in the game -- what really constitutes an achievement. Accidentally stumbling into an achievement for exploring a zone, for example, doesn't really feel like I've accomplished anything important. But still, I've got the achievement, just like I'd get if I killed the baddest beast in the land. And sometimes when I do things that I think are really epic, like soloing a dungeon or keeping a raid alive when I'm the only healer left, there's no achievement to mark my accomplishment. So I put the question to you, dear readers: what World of Warcraft achievements really feel like achievements? And what non-achievements really ought to be achievements?
PvP in Patch 5.2: Gear changes, resilience changes, class changes
Thanks, most likely, in no small part to the relatively recent arrival of Brian Holinka, a Blizzard recruit whose sole job it is to rework PvP, patch 5.2 is bringing in some seriously chunky PvP changes. We've spoken in the past of Blood Sport about the changes coming to PvP gear, and those begin in earnest when the PvP season starts on Tuesday. If you don't want to re-read the old article, the summary is as follows: There will be four tiers of gear Dreadful -- item level 458 crafted gear; Malevolent -- ilvl 476, purchased with honor. Tyrannical -- ilvl 493, purchased with conquest, and with honor in patch 5.3, once the player has earned 27,000 conquest in the season. Weapons are exempt from the points requirement come patch 5.3; Elite Tyrannical -- ilvl 515, purchased with conquest only after earning 27,000 conquest points in the season. There will no longer be any rating requirement to purchase any gear Players with higher ratings will still have a higher conquest cap A dramatically increased catch-up cap will be implemented with patch 5.3 And that's just the start. There are a lot of class changes, which bring out some clear winners and losers, as well as perhaps shifting the strengths and weaknesses of certain classes in the arena, and big changes to how resilience scales.
Cynwise dissects patch 5.2's battleground scaling
Well-known Warlock PvP blogger Cynwise has posted a typically excellent article dealing with the problems brought about by one of the patch 5.2 changes designed to improve low level battlegrounds. Patch 5.2 added battleground bracket scaling, to all brackets with the exception of the max level one, which caused an uproar among the PvP twinking community. And it seems from Cynwise's post that their fears were not unjustified. The addition of level scaling, where a low level character's health and base stats are scaled up to match that of the top level in the bracket, was meant to help even out the discrepancies that caused leveling battlegrounds to be anything other than fun. They were meant to even the playing field, but from Cynwise's research, it appears that they do exactly the opposite. He reports on his level 85 warlock, Cynwise, which is a PvP-focused twink, and the problem's he's faced thanks to the scaling. To cut a long story short, and you should definitely read the long story, among the higher level brackets which span expansions, there are huge problems in place thanks to the availability of gear.
Updated: No more /follow in battlegrounds
Unannounced features are often par for the course with big patches, and this one is no exception. Blizzard Customer Support EU tweeted the following this morning: #Patchday fact number 1: /follow no longer works in Battlegrounds. #WoW - Blizzard CS EU (@BlizzardCSEU_EN) March 6, 2013 The reasoning behind this is, of course, not completely understood. It is possible that this is the latest strategy in Blizzard's unending battle against bots, which might occasionally, though definitely not always, use following as a way to help avoid being afk booted. However, it is more likely a decisive step to making it far more difficult for multiboxers to dominate in battlegrounds. While not against the terms of service, multiboxing in random battlegrounds is a big problem for many players, when five DKs or five elemental shaman are running around causing havoc, it's hard to enjoy yourself. We've all been there, and it is definitely annoying, although they can sometimes be taken out with a group effort. Based on the latter reasoning, it's probably a good thing for the overall enjoyment of casual PvPers, who vastly outnumber the people who want to five-box their way through battlegrounds. Anything that makes random battlegrounds more enjoyable is just fine by me, but should Blizzard have given multiboxers more warning? Or is this more part of the anti-bot measures, in your opinion? Updated: Hit the break for Blizzard Senior Community Manager Bashiok's input.
PvP Season 12 ends March 5
Attention Arena and Rated Battleground enthusiasts! Blizzard has announced the end of Season 12 for both Arena PvP and Rated Battlegrounds. The season will officially end on Tuesday, March 5, at which point the process of determining which players are eligible for end-of-season rewards will begin. Until rewards are handed out, those that feel they are eligible for titles or mounts should avoid transferring their characters until after the season ends, just to avoid any problems with handing out the goodies. While players will be able to keep their Valor in patch 5.2, Conquest points will still be converted to Honor points. Keep in mind however that all Season 12 gear will be able to be purchased with Honor points at that time -- while 5.0 and 5.1 Valor gear will still cost Valor. Also note that any items with a rating requirement attached will no longer be available for purchase after the Season's end, so be sure to pick up any gear you're missing before March 5. Blizzard Entertainment Arena and Rated Battleground Season 12 is scheduled to end on Tuesday, March 5. At that point, we will determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards, a process that should take approximately one week. It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for Arena titles and/or the Malevolent Gladiator's Cloud Serpent to refrain from transferring their characters to another realm or faction until after Season 12 ends. The awarding of Season 12 titles and mounts will occur approximately 2 weeks after the season ends. At the end of the season, Conquest Points will be converted to Honor Points and any honor above 4000 will be converted to gold at a rate of 35 silver per point. The honor cap will remain at 4000. All Season 12 items will cost Honor Points (equivalent to their previous Conquest Point cost) when the season ends, with the exception of any items with rating requirements attached. These items will no longer be available for purchase. The next Arena and Rated Battleground season will begin approximately one week after the current season ends. During the break between seasons, all Rated Battleground and Arena matches will be unavailable. Team and Personal Ratings will be reset when Season 13 begins. source Does this mean we'll see patch 5.2 hit the live servers on March 5? Possibly -- but as always, dates are subject to change, and we'll just have to wait and see. Until then, if you're a PvP enthusiast, consider this your heads up to decide what to do with any remaining Conquest or Honor points you may have kicking around.
