2.2
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PTRs closed -- and you know what that means!
As any long-time player of World of Warcraft knows, the public test realms open up to allow players to help out Blizzard QA by giving future changes a good stress test. The test realms open as soon as Blizzard has a stable build of the upcoming patch and the test realms close as soon as Blizzard is satisfied that their patch is as polished as it's going to get. Hortus announced this morning that the PTRs were going offline, concluding public testing for patch 2.2. To me, this means we're going to see patch 2.2 coming our way very soon -- perhaps as early as next week! However, we have known Blizzard to close the PTRs weeks in advance of an official patch release, so a final date continues to elude us.So what major changes should you expect come patch day? An updated sound engine Voice chat (on select servers -- it will be rolled out in stages) The continuing shrinking shoulders adventure (Night Elves, Draenei, and Orcs to the best of our knowledge) Movie capture for Macs (sorry, PC users!)
Elizabeth Harper09.20.2007
First Orc shoulders, now Draenei shoulders
Hot on the heels of the Orc shoulder scandal (to be fixed in patch 2.2), World of Raids has some screenshots suggesting that Draenei shoulder graphics are smaller on the PTRs. While I always thought the level of concern with shoulder size to be sort of odd, the outcry over Orc shoulders made it clear that it's an issue players care about. So why-oh-why is Blizzard restarting the debate over appropriate shoulder size by shrinking the shoulders of another race? We'll see if this graphical change, more minor (at least to my eyes) than the Orc alteration, causes the same level of public anger.[Thanks, Akyl]
Elizabeth Harper08.30.2007
Enchanting tweaks on the PTRs
World of Raids has pointed out some lowered enchanting costs that are showing up on the latest build of the public test realms. However, changes at present only seem to apply to enchanter-only ring enchants (if you're not familiar, these enchants soulbind the item when enchanted, so they're only useful to enchanters), so if you aren't an enchanter, the following is probably of no interest. However, if you are an enchanter, happy days! The cost of enchanting your rings seems to be dropping significantly in the next patch. For precise details on the current and future costs, read on![Thanks, Akyl]
Elizabeth Harper08.28.2007
Lighting changes in 2.2
Over on YouTube, Neona has posted a couple of videos demonstrating a lighting effects change in patch 2.2. Sure, it's a minor cosmetic change, but it is pretty cool looking. (Of course, I'm always happy about more glowiness -- so a glowy sun is all good!)
Elizabeth Harper07.25.2007
PTR Update: Hortus confirms and denies
Hortus has posted a sticky about the current PTR issues which addresses a lot of problems in and questions about 2.2. Most notably, he has confirmed that Zul'Aman and Guild Banks will not be in patch 2.2. He also has confirmed that Voice Chat will still be in 2.2, but it is not yet available for testing on the test server.In addition, Hortus addressed some of the problems people are having with premade character copies. Hortus says that if you get an error when trying to copy a premade, the queue is full and to try again later. He does not address why the error message doesn't just say that...Also, it seems that even though some premade characters are missing abilities or have abilities they are not supposed to have, they do not intend to fix them at this time.Side note not mentioned by Horus: Copying characters that are not premade to the test realms is also on a several day wait.Hortus denies that the Orc Shoulders are now bigger than before the bug: Orc shoulders are now the correct size, they are not any larger than they were before, it's your imagination. He also addresses Athlon errors, authentication issues and how not to get your post deleted.It seems that with all of these issues and Voice Chat not even being tested yet, Patch 2.2 is a long way off. What are you most looking forward to or dreading in 2.2? Have you successfully copied a premade? If so, any problems and how long did it take?
Robin Torres07.24.2007
Current issues on the 2.2 PTRs
On the Test Realm Forums, Hortus has compiled a list of all known issues on the PTRs. While bugs are never fun, the good news here is that they're all being investigated by Blizzard QA, and we can hope they'll be fixed well before patch 2.2 hits the live realms. Items of note include: Many items have pink textures. Orc Shoulders are too small -- yes, it is a bug! Resilience is reducing dot damage by more than indicated Druid Cat form range is inconsistent. Rogue Seal Fate is not working. Hunter Feign Death is not immediately dropping aggro. But for a full list, you'll want to see Hortus' post!
Elizabeth Harper07.21.2007
Orc shoulders being fixed in patch 2.2
For the many Orc players unhappy about the state of their shoulder armor, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that Drysc has confirmed that the fix for the shoulder armor graphics has made it into the upcoming 2.2 patch! And the bad news? Well, no one knows quite when the 2.2 patch is going to get off the PTRs and on the live realms, so you're going to have to live with those oddly-sized shoulders for a while yet...
Elizabeth Harper07.19.2007
PTR Notes: Rogue's Blind change changed back
From the "some-of-the-people-happy-all-of-the-time file," you may have noticed a fun little change under the Rogue notes in patch 2.2: "Blind duration reduced to 8 seconds, cooldown reduced to 1 minute, Blinding Powder is no longer required to use." Blind with only a minute cooldown? With no reagent cost? Sounds good to my PvP Undead Rogue.But most people didn't like the sound of spending all that time disoriented, so this weekend, the forums opened up with the QQ rain. Even some Rogues agreed that they didn't use Blind that often, and that the reagent costs didn't bother them that much (I know I always have tons of it from pickpocketing-- it's the Flash Powder that I never have enough of). And yet when Neth announced that the change that was in the patch notes hadn't actually been implemented on the PTR (here are the new official patch notes, sans Blind changes), the whole situation flipped-- Rogues decided that they did want the Blind change, and other classes cheered that a change they weren't sure would affect them negatively had ever existed in the first place.Should Blind be changed? I tend to agree with most people's opinions-- it works right now, so why bother with it? But all the outrage and the flip-flopping on the PTR (a place that is supposed to be full of experimentation) just brings up the point I made on the last PTR: have a little patience, people. The PTRs are a place to test ideas on a massive scale, and since this change never actually appeared on the PTRs, all the commentary on it actually came from people who'd never actually played with it in the first place.
Mike Schramm07.16.2007
BigRedKitty: From the bowels of the patch notes
Using our top secret, highly illegal, and mildly toxic BRK Patch Notes Discombobulator, the highly-trained yet massively underpaid engineers at the BRK Information Warfare Center and Crunchy Cheetos Research Facility have been able to root out the hidden agenda in the latest patch notes distribution. Hold onto your Stylin' Purple Hats, folks; this isn't gonna be pretty. For The Top Ten Totally Provocative Changes Coming in the Next Patch, read on!
Daniel Howell07.13.2007
WoW 2.2 Mac client in-game video capture
It really seems like Blizzard is taking leaps and strides in their efforts to support some of the fun things we've been doing outside of the game and putting them actually *in* the game.When I read the patch notes and saw that the Mac client was getting in-game video recording, I immediately started my PTR client download. I was not to be disappointed. With the new "Mac Options", I can choose the resolution to record at (600x400 in this case), the framerate, and the compression. I left these as defaults, but chose to turn off the UI, cursor, and sound.Click through for a little more about the process for making the video, or just watch the video above to get an impression of what in-game recording is like.
Paul Sherrard07.13.2007
Patch 2.2 on the PTRs
The next patch, 2.2, has just gone live on the public test realms. So for your reading pleasure, I present you with the terribly exciting patch 2.2 notes. Primarily, this patch seems to be a number of bug fixes and minor tweaks, but it also includes the infamous DoT change and a number PvP-related tweaks (reduction in CC times in PvP is what stands out to me). The patch notes are extremely long, so I won't try to summarize the rest -- check the whole things out after the break.[Thanks, Boubouille!]
Elizabeth Harper07.12.2007
Everything we know about 2.2, 2.3, and the next expansion
EU Forum MVP Schwick has posted a very nice and very thorough listing of everything we know about patch 2.2, 2.3, and the next expansion. As far as I know, there's nothing really new here, but it's a terrifically indepth listing of every rumor, hint, and suspicion that we've heard so far.Some of the exciting ideas still coming are new emotes, a tanking Pally revamp, a new stealth animation for Rogues, and totem timers for Shamans (currently, I use Totemus, and that suits me just fine). Also on the to-do list includes VOIP, guild banks and housing, and speculations for the next expansion include Northrend (I've got my money on this one, because the Scourge have it coming), "Beyond Outland," and the Emerald Dream.I'm sure we'll learn more eventually (expect big things at Blizzcon, I foresee), but until then, this roundup is as comprehensive as it gets. Thanks to Schwick for compiling this all together for us.
Mike Schramm06.27.2007