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BlizzCon 2010: Blues among you
BlizzCon 2010 is almost here! If you're headed to BlizzCon 2010, you may notice something a little different this year. Unlike years past, when Community Team interaction was restricted largely to moderating panels, this year the blues will come to you -- on the convention floor, that is. Blue poster Nethaera announced this interesting change of procedure on the official forums earlier today. Nethaera For the past few years, you may have noticed Community Team members moderating the various BlizzCon panels. This year, things are a little bit different. Instead of moderating panels, we'll be providing BlizzCon updates on the forums, Facebook, and Twitter as well as mingling with attendees around the convention center. That's right, this year we will be among you and look forward to getting meet and talk with you during the convention. If you see one of us, feel free to stop us and say, "Hi". source This begs the question -- who's going to moderate all those panels? Regardless, this is apt to be a fun change for the Community Manager Team. So if you ever wanted to say hello to your favorite flickering candle or floating skull, keep your eyes peeled on the convention floor -- they could be right behind you!
The Daily Blues: Camo looking badass -- not bug
Each day, WoW.com takes you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From the latest posts from Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) to the lowdown on StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, we'll keep you informed. Ghostcrawler's words, not mine. Table of contents Ghostcrawler Other StarCraft 2 / Diablo 3 / Activision-Blizzard news
The Daily Blues: Zul'Gurub is gone as a raid instance come Cataclysm
Each day, WoW.com takes you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From the latest posts from Ghostcrawler (lead systems designer) to the lowdown on StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, we'll keep you informed. In which Zul'Gurub is gone. Table of contents Ghostcrawler Other StarCraft 2 / Diablo 3 / Activision-Blizzard news
The Daily Blues: "That's the way I roll."
Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler's latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we'll keep you informed. There's a new beta patch out tonight. Does this mean we're getting to see our first look at 31-point talents tonight? It'll be a "wild ride," says Ghostcrawler around 6:30 p.m. PDT. Ghostcrawler -- Buckle up. That's the way I roll. Buckle up. Tonight's going to be a wild ride with all the new talent info out. source Ghostcrawler -- This. Quote: He's on a yacht in the tropics, sitting on his THRONE OF LIES (complete with cup holder), drinking gin from a coffee mug (decorated with a picture of all ten classes wailing and gnashing their teeth), all while watching his pony peacefully wander the deck. This. source Table of Contents Ghostcrawler Other StarCraft II / Diablo III / Activision-Blizzard News
Ghostcrawler on guild organization in Cataclysm
In response to players' concern over guild organization and management in Cataclysm, Ghostcrawler's been frequenting a thread answering questions about their design goals for guild leveling and why developers decided to axe guild talent trees. While you should definitely read all of his responses, there are a few points concerning the new system that really jump out: They didn't want to encourage guild-hopping, and forcing a guild to pick and choose among talents would have wound up suiting some players and not others (e.g. a guild leader picking PvE-oriented guild talents and alienating the more PvP-focused players in the guild). Hence the leveling system rather than the almost-inevitable squabble over which talents to get. Because only a certain number of people in the guild can advance your "level" at one time, there's a cap on the advantage a large guild would otherwise have held. "The guild bonuses used to be talents. They are now more like leveling spells. We call them perks now instead of talents. We haven't cut any content, but just changed the UI from boxes with prereqs to a list." The hazing ritual to get into Ghostcrawler's guild "is pretty dehumanizing." The upshot is that Blizzard's trying to encourage guildies to stick together and reap the benefits of a strong guild without punishing players who don't feel they've got any choice but to move. I was initially worried about guild talents for just that reason, and the "leveling" system sounds like a much healthier way to do this.
The Daily Blues: Happy Birthday, Zarhym!
Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler's latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we'll keep you informed. We haven't posted The Daily Blues this week because the blues have been so quiet, obviously working hard on Cataclysm and related content. But today is something special -- the birthday of Zarhym, who turns 29. So happy birthday to our blue-tinted friend, may all your drops be epic. Go wish him a happy birthday. Table of Contents Ghostcrawler Other StarCraft II / Diablo III / Activision-Blizzard News
More Cataclysm change details for druids
Fear not, my fellow druids; your feral analysis post is going live later tonight, and resto sometime tomorrow. Daniel Whitcomb and I have been talking about the incoming changes to the spec, and particularly the decision to change the tree of life from a constant form into a cooldown. I honestly didn't know how to feel about it at first. But before we get to that, Ghostcrawler stayed up hellaciously late last night to answer questions from druid players about the Cataclysm changes currently planned, and we've collected all of them here for you.
Blizzard introduces new official story forum
A lot of us lore nerds have been wanting it for a long time, and now we have it: An official place to discuss the lore of the Warcraft universe. Of course, it's technically called the Story Forum, and one of the blue stickies on the forum suggests that this forum is meant to focus on "the publishing division" of Blizzard's creative development (i.e., the novels and manga). Then again, the forum's main welcome sticky states that the forum is for discussing the stories of Warcraft "as told in-game and through the novels, manga, comics, and short stories that Blizzard publishes." So in theory the exact nature of the forum could be considered a bit iffy. Still, I'm going to go ahead and go by the welcome message and declare it a lore forum. No longer will we have to go searching through pages and pages of flames, rants, and class balance whines to find the lore-based flames, rants, and Garrosh vs. Varian debate threads. Nethaera also revealed that the publishing division plans to look at the Forum discussions to get an idea of what people like and don't like about Warcraft's stories, so if you've been writing an epic rant about Med'an or Rhonin, you may finally have the outlet you've always wanted. You can find the forum here. If you need extra ammunition before jumping into the discussion yourself, be sure to check out our lore guide, as well as past entries of our Know Your Lore column. After the jump, you can check out the forum welcome message, as well as some additional words from Nethaera on Blizzard's Creative Development Team and lore resources.
Patch 3.3.3a should fix issues for some Mac users
A heads-up for our Mac users, although there's a good chance you've already been painfully aware of this if you play on one of the affected systems -- patch 3.3.3 has been causing major issues for some PowerPC and Tiger users, which have (hopefully) been fixed by the mini-patch 3.3.3a. S4d1K -- 3.3.3 Known Issues for Mac players We are aware of 2 critical bugs that are affecting users with specific configurations. #1 PowerPC G4/G5 users get disconnected after login. #2 Users with a MacBook Pro GeForce 8600M and 10.4.11 crashes after entering the world. We are very sorry and we are working on these issues and hope to fix them as soon as possible. UPDATE 5:10pm: We have a fix for both issues but it will require a client patch. We don't have an ETA for now. UPDATE 3/24 12:15pm: We are currently testing a patch. We want to make sure that we do not break the game for another group of people. We are doing everything to release this patch as soon as possible. source The patch in question is (we think) 3.3.3a. With the patch, many of the affected users are now reporting that WoW is playable again, but while monitoring the official thread on the issue, it's apparent that a lot of players are still having problems. We had several people drop comments on Adam's earlier post on the mini-patch -- did 3.3.3a work for you?
Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Zarhym clarifies new holiday boss mechanics
So one of the new changes coming in Patch 3.3.3 is that one will be able queue up using the dungeon finder in order to fight world event bosses such as the Crown Chemical Trio or the Headless Horseman. However, the actual extent of the changes is a bit more involved, as Zarhym clarified in a recent forums post. Here's the rundown:
Healing's evolution in Cataclysm
Ghostcrawler, when not directly occupied with the pack of idiots harassing him on the Damage Dealing forums, stopped by the Healing forums this past month to share some information on how healing is likely to change in Cataclysm. Of particular interest is Blizzard's changing design philosophy with respect to what makes healing challenging. Right now tank avoidance is so high that, as GC's previously observed, bosses have to hit like a freight train in order to pose any threat to tank survivability at all. Between that and what's universally acknowledged as the "never running OOM" ethos of Wrath, the unfortunate effect has been healers spamming their largest heals on anyone within range. The model that Blizzard's looking to move towards is getting a test run of sorts in Icecrown Citadel -- lower tank avoidance, bosses hitting for more reasonable amounts, and -- in Cataclysm -- higher health overall. In other words, we'll be healing for roughly the same amount we're healing now through less damage that nonetheless occurs more frequently. This will lead to a greater risk of running OOM as the encounter progresses if you dump a ton of mana on damage that should have been healed more efficiently. Even now, there are encounters like hard-mode Vezax where you do have to do this, which I thought made for a pretty interesting fight.
Friday Night Gin: Your weekly Blue roundup
Good evening fine ladies and good gentlemen, I want to invite you to head over to your liquor cabinet, grab some of that fine gin and do with it what you will. I like mine without anything added, right at room temperature. Ghostcrawler prefers his with coffee. Once you're settled, come back to your computer and read up on the best of the blues and the ghostly-crab-crawler.Welcome to a new weekly column here at WoW.com. Each week we'll take a look at what Ghostcrawler and his cohorts at Blizzard have said about the game, highlighting all the important announcements and discussions.What Ghostcrawler says in particular is of great importance these days to WoW. A lot of the stuff he's talking about is reflective of the direction of the entire design team at WoW, and if you follow what he's saying you'll have a better understanding of where the game is headed.So after the break we'll wrap up what Ghostcrawler and the other blues had to say this week. This week's topic include: Battleground Focus, 5 Second Rule, On Class Representation Versus Actual Power, Going to heckle at BlizzCon?, Water Dungeon, Affliction Changes, Console WoW, Truth In Developer "Promises" About Change & An Angry Community, Amount Of Leveling, Phasing Technology, and Flying In Old Azeroth.
Time change for this week's European extended maintenance
European Blue Ancilorn has updated the times for this week's extended maintenance which will affect a large percentage of realms. We mentioned the extended maintenance to you last week and that Ancilorn was keen to make sure players had an "opportunity to plan accordingly".The selected realms will be offline from 1:00am to 3:00pm CEST, not 3:00am until 5:00pm CEST as we previously reported. The following servers are affected by the extended downtime: Balnazzar, Bloodfeather, Darksorrow, Defias Brotherhood, Earthen Ring, Frostwhisper, Genjuros, Haomarush, Hellscream, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Magtheridon, Neptulon, Nordrassil, Quel'Thalas, Ragnaros, Ravencrest, Runetotem, Shadowmoon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Sylvanas, Terenas, The Maelstrom, The Venture Co, Thunderhorn, Turalyon, Twisting Nether and Vashj.
Ancilorn reveals extended EU maintenance next week
European CM Ancilorn has revealed that, for next week's EU maintenance, some of the realms will be offline for a whopping fourteen hours. The Blue was keen to ensure players were given enough warning of 15th July's maintenance to make sure that players who have toons on the affected realms had an "opportunity to plan accordingly".The affected realms are: Balnazzar, Bloodfeather, Darksorrow, Defias Brotherhood, Earthen Ring, Frostwhisper, Genjuros, Haomarush, Hellscream, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Magtheridon, Neptulon, Nordrassil, Quel'Thalas, Ragnaros, Ravencrest, Runetotem, Shadowmoon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Sylvanas, Terenas, The Maelstrom, The Venture Co, Thunderhorn, Turalyon, Twisting Nether and Vashj.While the problem seems to be specific to these realms, Ancilorn didn't elaborate on the precise reasons for the extensive maintenance. He only informed readers that these realms will be offline from 3:00am CEST until around 5:00pm CEST. I suggest this might be a very good time to explore the opposite faction on another server, roll a twink or level that long-neglected alt. We'll certainly keep you updated next week and hopefully the maintenance should run smoothly.
Forum post of the day: Go blues!
Snaboo of Greymane shouted out to the Blizzard posters on the forums. He appreciates that they are being customer focused and social. This elicited positive responses from a handful of blue posters, except Bornakk, who's still grumpy.Some posters disagreed about the attention the blues pay to the community. That they are slow to respond to "serious" questions or that they seem disrespectful of players. Crygil pointed out that in many cases there are several threads on a particular subject. The blues try to address at least one of them, but aren't able to respond in all of the threads on a single topic.
Are we being teased about the next expansion?
So there's been a feeling in the air lately that some of the blues have been in a bit of a teasing mood. Sure, that's not neccessarily new, but what is interesting is what exactly they may be teasing us about. For example, here's a recent post in which one Sulmus of Aerie Peak asks for the Greymane Wall to be opened. Zarhym soon jumps in to say that they would be "out of their mind" to open the wall... then follows up with random ellipses. To top it all off, Bornakk and Crygil jump in with silly punctuation of their own. Now when Alex and I were discussing this the other day, Alex insisted that they were basically admitting that the Greymane wall would be opened, likely in conjunction with the next expansion. He says it's already in the planning stages, and the blues are just waving the knowledge tantalizingly out of sight because they're not allowed to officially announce it yet. Now, at first I wasn't really on board with it, but then I noticed another post Zarhym commented in.
The 10 people you need to know in WoW
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/10_MMO_Players_You_Need_to_Know'; One of my favorite people to read online is a fellow by the name of Pjammer on Livejournal. He's smart, funny, and a gifted writer, and if you are not sobbing by the end of "King of Masochists" then you are pretty much a terrible person. But another great entry is "The 16 Essential People In Your Life," which lists such valuable acquaintances as the Computer Security Guru, the Wolf, the Consigliere, and (most importantly) the Best Friend. Pjammer, quoting Harvey Mackay, correctly notes that 2 am is a bad time to make new friends. These are the kind of people you want in your life as early as possible, and to exercise a positive influence on its course. My realm's seen a number of guild instability issues of late, which is something most of us have come to expect with an upcoming expansion. I've found reason to mull over how the virtual world differs from the real world with respect to friendship, backstabbing, greed, betrayal, honor, and how people choose to handle their problems. In my considered opinion it doesn't differ at all, and your experience ingame is largely determined by the network of players assembled around you, whether that alliance is a recognized one in the form of a guild or simply a more informal group of friends.So, from my own experience and with a hat tip to Pjammer, these are the people you want in your posse for the best possible experience in the game:
Patch 2.4 known issues
More 2.4 news for all of you to consume.Our friendly master of the PTR forums, Hortus, has posted a list of known issues on the PTR. I'm sure the list will grow longer, but in brief here are some major points: Watch out for corruption of your World of Warcraft files if you use a Mac! This is a major issue for some people. Indeed yours truly would have been up the creek if I used my Mac's firewall feature (I've got a Linux firewall instead). All you Mac users: please, be careful! When you rename a Hunter pet you get disconnected. The Hunter ability Auto Shot can get locked out if you use an instant ability after Steady Shot. Looting Bind on Pickup items isn't working right. So watch out if you're starting to raid. Shattrath wasn't copied over correctly. Many NPCs (besides those listed in the blue post) are missing. Blues also have posted an update of sorts on the character copy queues. They've said we're all going to have to wait a couple days to get our characters copied over if they're not already. At least some news is better than no news.WoW Insider is your source for all the patch 2.4 news! Check back with us often for the latest.
WoW News Special Edition: Patch 2.4
There's been a great deal of World of Warcraft news to come out since last night's announcement of the 2.4 patch going live on the test realms. While character transfer is currently either suspended or overburdened and timing out on the US side of the house, there are still those poking around in the back end and discovering all manner of interesting tidbits. For those of you who spend the lion's share of time in Azeroth, we've compiled a truly massive newspost to give you all the latest and greatest!We'll kick off our roundup with all the news and a fantastic first-look gallery from our sister site, WoW Insider. For those hungry for even more news, check out the extended coverage from all over the web after the jump!WoW Insider 2.4 patch notes up -- Read and enjoy! Sunwell Isle map and PTR news -- Ready for the Sunwell? We are! Bornakk announces region free test servers -- Could we eventually see region-free live servers? PTR copy enabled, Rocket Boots changed PTR up "soon," WSG changes coming Patch 2.4: Hyjal and Black Temple attunements removed Badges of Justice topple the Black Temple Hunters, say hello to Thor'idal -- A bow that removes your need for a quiver or ammo? Legendary! Blues confirm more changes to come in patch 2.4 Gallery: Patch 2.4 Sunwell Isle
Drysc weighs in on questing
Player Tychlona of Kul Tiras made a fair point in a forum post when she noted that it sometimes gets a little annoying doing "collection" quests where it seems to take hours to collect what you need, Be it Gray Bear Tongues or Helboar Meat. I'd say that most of us can likely feel her pain on that measure. Drysc answered her later in the thread with some of his own insight into the process of questing and dealing with various types of quests. His point that sometimes seeing that "5/30 Windroc" notice in your quest log can make a quest feel like a bit of grind is very understandable, but I have to counter that seeing that "8/10 Monstrous Crawler Leg" in your quest log and knowing you've already killed 30 mobs without those last 2 legs appearing can feel just as grinding. He says a few more interesting things that may shine some light on Blizzard's questing philosophy, which I'll discuss after the jump.
