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Hearthstone: More gold rewards, class balance, and more
One of the first major updates to the Hearthstone beta client is almost here (along with the account wipe). Hearthstone Community Manager Zeriyah wrote a post with additional details on the new bug fixes and quality of life improvements which just so happens to include: Daily quest flexibility (Defeat X opponents with either Y class or Z class) Class balance (Yay, nerfed rogues) Gold generation improved (10 gold per three wins instead of 5 gold per five wins) Read on for my thoughts of the changes and the changes themselves.
The Crowd Chose You: ruining arena for everyone?
Season 14 has got off to a rather inauspicious start. We've had some big problems with conquest points, caps, weapons, vendors and more, which means that some players have rampaged through the ratings with full Grievous gear, which, of course, isn't scaled down to the same level as everything else. Blizzard is working on fixing the issue, but they've made no comment about resetting rating for the worst offenders. There are some bright sides, though, as the new downscaling system means that Conquest gear is categorically the best for PvP in all but the most extreme of cases. What's more, cross-realm arenas remove a restriction that previously stood in players' way. However, the much-celebrated fix to the RBG element of the conquest cap hasn't worked, and some people really miss having teams. But the biggest change, the one that is causing the most complaints, is the controversial match-ender, The Crowd Chose You. Why is it causing complaints? Well, where should I start...
Pilotwings stage spotted in Super Smash Bros Wii U
Today's image du jour over on the official Super Smash Bros website unveiled a Pilotwings Resort-themed stage for the Wii U version of Nintendo's cross-franchise brawler. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this biplane is secretly a new playable character, a la Hornet in Fighters Megamix.
PvP Season 13 ends August 27th
You read that headline right -- Tuesday, August 27th, our 13th PvP season will be at its end. For one week after that date, there will be the usual accounting process to see who gets the PvP titles and rewards as both the Arena and Rated Battlegrounds seasons will be in abeyance. Conquest points will be converted to honor if not spent by that time, and any honor points over 4000 will be converted to gold, as has generally been the case during previous end of season weeks. At present, Season 14 is expected to begin one week after the end of Season 13. If this follows the pattern of previous seasons this expansion, we're on track for patch 5.4 to drop the same day as Season 13's end (Patch 5.2 dropped on March 5th, the same day Season 12 ended) or within that one week period. So this is a really good benchmark for how close we are to patch 5.4 - it won't come before the end of Season 13, but it may come that day. Keeping in mind that there can always be delays, dates can be moved back, and that no date for patch 5.4 has been announced, it definitely feels like it's getting closer. For the full announcement leap behind the cut with us.
Arena Pass 2013: Rated Phase delayed
If you aren't aware of the usual progression of the Arena Pass realm, it's cut into several chunks. We start off with the practice phase, where players are intended to form teams, make friends, get some cohesion and work together to get a group and a comp that's good for them to progress into the next phase. That phase is the rated phase, and itself is divided up into chunks, but it's when things get serious on the Arena Pass realm. Team ratings are wiped, everything is reset, and the competition begins for real. But right now there's a problem, as Blizzard Community Manager Daxxarri reports: Daxxarri We have become aware of an issue that has prevented Arena Pass teams from being reset. To allow for time to resolve the issue and allow teams to plan accordingly, we currently intend to extend the practice phase and instead begin the rated phase of the Arena Pass on August 6. Currently, the conclusion of the rated phase is still planned for August 27. We appreciate your understanding in the meantime, and look forward to fierce competition when the rated phase begins. source It's a little surprising, perhaps, given that the start of the rated phase has been pushed back a whole week, the end of the rated phase hasn't received the same treatment.
Still no spectator mode in the works for WoW arena
While there are many changes in store for the arena in patch 5.4, there are still no development plans for a spectator mode according to EU community manager, Nakatoir. The latest blue post on the matter reiterates much of what we've heard before -- that yes, a spectator mode would be awesome but would require great number of resources to develop. Thus it's not currently in the cards. Nakatoir -- Spectator mode and the esport scene in general I don't deny that getting a working spectator mode would help with community ran competitions and tournaments and it's one of the reasons that we would like to have one. Understand that this is something we know that players want and it's something that we would like to provide to you. We simply have no plans at this time to implement such a feature, but when we are able to implement this feature we'll be sure to let you know about it. source Given the incoming arena and PvP changes slated to arrive in patch 5.4, one might expect the demand for a spectator feature to increase, but who knows for sure? What do you think? Would having spectator mode increase your interest and participation in arena? Do you think the WoW eSports community would grow if there was a dedicated spectator mode like the ones found in StarCraft 2 or League of Legends?
Blizzard debuts new Battlegrounds Guides
Look, I have a shameful admission -- I really don't PvP at all these days. I used to, but this was back in the days where Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley were your only options. In TBC, I dabbled a bit with Eye of the Storm, but my interest in battlegrounds waned as I turned my focus back to raiding. That said, once I finally got to the stage of the legendary quest chain that required me to go win Silvershard Mines and Temple of Kotmogu, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It took several tries to get the victories under my belt, and I fervently wished I had someone to explain to me exactly what I was supposed to be doing in there. Although it's a little late for me, Blizzard has finally launched that which I fervently wished for -- an easy reference guide to all current battlegrounds. The guide clearly explains the purpose of each battleground, what unique elements to look for -- like useful buffs and nodes -- the rules of the game, and most importantly, how to win the thing! Also included are maps of each battleground, so you have a general idea of what to expect once you're inside. If you've been thinking about giving PvP a try, but been intimidated by the sheer variety of battlegrounds out there to choose from, or just a lack of understanding, take a look at the guides. They do a really good job of explaining everything so that even someone like me that hasn't participated in PvP in years understood what these new battlegrounds are all about. And if you're on your legendary chain and a little confused like I was, wondering what the heck the Temple of Kotmogu is all about, or how to claim a mine cart in Silvershard Mines, the guides have all the explanation you'll ever need.
Patch 5.4 PTR: PvP changes thus far
A week or so back, I made a rather rash promise on Twitter. Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka were teasing their joint follower base about "exciting PvP work being done" on the PTR. I responded to this tweet, saying that if the exciting work was cross-realm arenas, I would bake them a million cookies. Each. You can see from the header image, and indeed from a recent update to the patch 5.4 PTR notes just exactly what happened next. Blizzard announced, with those notes, that cross-realm arenas were here. They followed this up with a blog on the subject, so let's take a look at just exactly what the changes entail. Arena teams have been removed. All you need to queue for arenas is a party of the appropriate size, so two, three, or five players. You can make cross-realm groups to queue for arena, with friends of the same faction from anywhere in your region The arena rankings, along with the titles and rewards associated with them, will be region-wide, instead of by battlegroup Conquest point cap, MMR, ranking, and overall rating will now be based on you as a player, not on your team.
Patch 5.4 PTR: PvP Mount requirements
Late last week, WoW Insider reported via Wowhead on the new PvP mounts that had been discovered on the PTR. This week we have clarification via Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka on Twitter of the requirements to get our hands on this horse, and the wolf that accompanies it. Unlike previous PvP mounts, which have either simply required honor points to purchase, or required a top title, these fall somewhere in the middle of the field, and reward participation. As Holinka confirmed via Twitter, they are won by doing 3v3 and RBGs. @Deontto Win 100 3V3 arena games and 40 RBG in a season - Holinka (@holinka) July 3, 2013 The requirement is for both sets of wins, so you can't just win 100 3v3s, or 40 RBGs, both requirements must be completed to get the mount. The aim, as Holinka again clarifies, is that these mounts should reward the well-rounded PvPer. They are attempting to increase participation in both 3v3 and 5v5, and these mounts are part of that. Of course, it's early PTR, and never say never, but it's unlikely that 2v2 will receive a similar reward. I get the impression that this is just the first of many incentives coming for players to get into PvP.
Breakfast Topic: Will patch 5.4 bring you into the arena?
I have to admit, even as a gamer who doesn't typically tend towards PvP combat, the recent news that Blizzard was removing the arena team requirement from participation has piqued my interest. I've played a bit of arena before, with a small team of friends, but we were never serious about it -- or particularly good at it -- and our mutually busy schedules didn't give us much time to play together. But now, participating in an arena battle looks like it will be as simple as queuing up for a battleground or dungeon run. On the plus side, that makes it easier for newbies (like me) to give the system a try. And, who knows? Perhaps arenas will become my new favorite thing. And on the down side, it might mean arenas will be flooded with newbies like me, who will be a nuisance to everyone (possibly including ourselves). But dangerous flood of newbies are not, will the patch 5.4 changes be drawing you into the arenas?
Patch 5.4: Arena teams out, cross-realm arenas in
Patch 5.4 is already shaping up to be a big one, and today Blizzard announced some major arena changes in addition to the tie-breaking system. Aiming to improve the arena experience by making it easier for anyone to compete, arena players will no longer need an arena team (in fact, arena teams don't even appear in the UI on the PTR): in patch 5.4, queuing for an arena match will work similarly to queuing for rated battlegrounds. You'll be matched with other players queuing to fight with and against, based on your rating. Additionally, matches are no longer limited to your battlegroup: you'll be able to play with or against anyone in your region, and even be able to compete in cross-realm groups with friends on other realms. Matches themselves will stay (mostly) the same, though your conquest point cap and requirements to purchase items will be based on your personal rating. These changes are live on the PTR now if you want to check them out for yourself. See the full text of Blizzard's announcement under the break.
Blizzard clarifies arena tie-break
There has been an excellent thread running in the EU forums laying out constructive criticisms of the new arena tie-break system. This system, if you hadn't heard, introduces a new buff called "The Crowd Chose You!!!" which will be applied to one team or another based on two criteria: the team with the largest number of players alive, and the team that brought an enemy player closest to death. Blizzard EU Community Manager Taepsilum posted in the thread to clarify that this is still very much in iteration, and to calm the fears of the posters, but a couple of great points were brought up. Firstly, if one team gets an enemy player to repeatedly low health percentages, for example, they get a mage to 10% then to 5% then to 8%, but their opponents get one of them to 2%, do their opponents win? It sounds, from reading about the system, like the team that got the player to 2% would emerge victorious, but this seems a little counter-intuitive. Another great question is whether the health for the calculation is percentage based or numerical. Percent would make more sense, it seems. Hit the break for Taepsilum's post.
Patch 5.4 PTR: The new Arena Tie-Break system
WoW Insider reported last week on a pretty crazy debuff that a player had found on the patch 5.4 PTR, The Crowd Chose You!!!. At the time, we were very sure to clarify that, as Brian Holinka mentioned on Twitter, this was not a tie-breaker in itself, rather it was, and is, a match-ender. It is the mechanic by which a match is ended once a tie-break system has decided who should emerge victorious. Rather like boxing, where not every fight can end with a knockout, and the judges use specific criteria to judge the winner, the tie-break system is in place to ascertain who should be awarded a victory, and give them this buff to put that victory in place. As I discussed in a Blood Sport a while back, the important element here was always the mechanic within the game that decided who would get the buff. For clarity, the current mechanic is very simple: if you are unable to kill the entire of the other team before the timer runs out, you will draw, and both sides will lose rating. The arena system currently favors a knockout, and refuses to recognize any other type of win, to continue our boxing analogy. But this is all set to change in patch 5.4, so let's take a look at the patch note excerpt that clarifies the new system.
Solstice Arena is an inventive mobile MOBA from a surprising source
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Solstice Arena appeared on the App Store last week. It's a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) game in which you choose a hero and play a top-down 3v3 match. Using various spells and abilities, you attack the opposing heroes and try to take out their towers before they do the same to yours. It's deep, well-balanced, and it's an inventive take on the burgeoning genre, designed from the ground up for mobile platforms and touchscreens. And oh yeah, it was published by Zynga. The mention of Zynga may conjure up more thoughts of smarmy farm animals and dessicated drawing games than it does words like "deep" and "inventive," but that's kind of the point. Zynga picked up the developer A Bit Lucky last year, and then immediately put them to work on something that could change the company's reputation, a "mid-core" title that did more right than it did wrong. And though you may be surprised, Solstice Arena succeeds at that task. It's probably not the next League of Legends (though Zynga wouldn't mind if it was), but it does represent the inklings of a new leaf for a huge casual game publisher on the wane.
Registration for the 2013 Arena Pass now open
At long last, registration for the 2013 Arena Pass has opened. This pass, which you have to purchase for the princely sum of $20. Once you're in, you can create brand new level 90 characters with full sets of PvP, and usually some PvE gear, and join arena teams to duke it out with your friends and enemies. There are various rewards to be gleaned from getting good ladder positions, such as titles, but there's also a Murkimus pet that players can earn just for participation in 50 rated games. The tournament is done in phases, starting off with a practice phase, then moving into the ranked phases. After the practice phase ends, after about 5 weeks, there is a rating penalty of 150 for team roster changes, so be sure to have your teams set by that point. Once the rated phase is over, Blizzard will leave the realms open for players to practice and try comps for the rest of the year. It's a great place to go to just have a play around with characters, classes and comps, and do some PvP!
City of Steam dev journal discusses game events
With a name meaning the center, you'd expect City of Steam's Nexus to be a happening place even in beta, right? That means plenty of events for folks to get in on. Well, it just so happens that there are two general events already in game and a third on the way, and Mechanist Games gives players the lowdown on how to get in on the action in the latest dev journal. Unlike temporary in-game events, events in CoS are permanent instances you queue for. Of course, victory promises reward. Of the two current events, the Arena is all about survival of the soloist as waves of mobs crash into you whereas Tesla Defense is a five-man tower defense. When patch 1.3 releases, the PvP-based Siege of the Spire will join the event lineup as a MOBA-inspired arena that includes mobs, turrets, and team bases. Players can join the regular events as well as daily and weekly events with larger rewards. For more details, check out the official site.
Holinka comments on PvE gear in PvP in patch 5.4
Blizzard's Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka has taken to Twitter to make an announcement about just exactly how PvE gear is going to work in PvP come patch 5.4. .@anthonydeluca8 It won't. The ceiling will slowly go up next season (e.g. 1 point per week) but PvP gear will be exempt from the ceiling. - Holinka (@holinka) June 13, 2013 There's likely to be a new season with patch 5.4, given how the previous ones have played out, and the fact that we have new tiers of gear. So when that new season begins, the PvP gear, which is the Grievous Gladiator gear, will be item level 522. This will put it a fairly substantial 26 item levels above the downscaled PvE gear, which will sit at item level 496. As Holinka has mentioned in the past, they want PvE gear to catch up to PvP gear slowly. And it makes sense, nobody is able to step into a season and be fully conquest geared in the first week. So, a player in PvP gear's average item level will probably increase in line with that of a PvE geared player, with the notable difference that, of course, PvP players will have PvP Power on their gear. It's also worth noting that this scaling occurs only in PvP instances, so arenas, battlegrounds and rated battlegrounds. Whether it will take PvPers 26 weeks to become fully geared remains to be seen, but it will feel good for PvP gear to be decently ahead of PvE gear for a while at least.
Elite PvP gear requires rating again in patch 5.4
There were murmurings of this change on the official forums a few days back, and now Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka has confirmed via Twitter that there is truth in the rumors. @oliviadgrace Yes 5.4 Elite gear will require rating and be purely visual. Still discussing what rating. - Holinka (@holinka) June 5, 2013 So it seems that PvP's elite gear has almost come full circle. If you remember, back in the heady days of late Cataclysm, early Mists, Elite gear had a rating requirement of 2200. T2 gear, as it used to be called, also offered higher item level weapons, but was removed to smooth out the rating curve, as there was something of a hurdle at 2200, where all the players above you had T2 weapons, with higher item levels and stats, and you didn't. So the rating requirement was removed, and a conquest point earning requirement was added to be allowed to purchase the elite gear. This didn't really give mid-rated players much to shoot for, once they were fully geared, which, particularly now in patch 5.3, isn't a difficult prospect at all. So, in patch 5.4, as part of an effort to add more incentives, rating-based elite gear will return. However, we've not quite gone back to where we started, as the elite gear will be purely cosmetic, with no higher item level and no improved stats. Holinka also confirms, via Twitter, that this will apply for weapons, too.
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.
