Greg-Street

Latest

  • Ghostcrawler on dual specs and loot tied to achievements

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    12.08.2008

    So sayeth the Ghostcrawler and so we shall listen. He spoke today regarding a few issues that are of prime importance to many players. However instead of long rants or detailed analysis on the issues of raiding difficulty, dual specs, and achievements he presented them in bullet points.First dual specs, a topic hot on everyone's mind. He provided some new insight into how things will work. In particular he said that "It will be trivial to do in town. You will also be able to do it out of towns, but not as trivially." This is new information and should make everyone tingle with gleeful anticipation at how trivial it might be to switch specs while in Dalaran.He also makes mention of things we already knew. They are aiming to allow people to swap glyphs and action bars with the dual spec feature, and that it should be along ideally in the next major content patch.That patch cannot come soon enough.In addition to the dual spec information, Ghostcrawler went into some points on raid difficulty. While there isn't any really new in terms of how difficult the raiding environment is (or isn't) and what may lie in store for the future (a harder Ulduar raid zone), there is some new news about loot tied to achievements.

  • Dual spec update

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    11.26.2008

    Ghostcrawler provided a bit of an update yesterday on the ETA of Dual Specs. He makes it clear that while they'd love to have them in patch 3.1 (which is when we'll see Ulduar and some other post Wrath), he doesn't want to say something and then not deliver – only to get players upset.Dual specs are a feature that's very much looked forward to by many players, in particular tanks and healers. No longer will players have to spend horrendous amounts of gold just to enjoy both solo content and group content. The introduction of them will truly be game changing for many folks.I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll see dual specs appear in 3.1. The 3.0.4 PTR should be coming around shortly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3.1 PTR shortly after the beginning of the new year. So maybe if I'm lucky around February or March next year I won't be spending 400g/week respecing. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.

  • Ghostcrawler on long term defense changes

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    11.25.2008

    Ghostcrawler weighed in on the intention and existence of the defense statistic yesterday. He makes two interesting criticisms of the philosophy behind defense: It might eventually prove a problem that defense functions both as a tanking statistic and prevents you from fighting mobs that are a higher level than your character. Balance might be easier to achieve if defense provided mitigation and not avoidance. This is rather cryptic to someone who doesn't often deal with the integral nature of the statistic, so let's break it down a bit.

  • Changes to AoE in patch 3.0.4

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    11.24.2008

    Ghostcrawler let us all know today of a few changes for classes that are being left out of the "AoE fun." He's only talking in relatively broad terms right now, and will give specifics later when things are more locked down.Some of the changes include: Shaman: Removing threat from the Fire Nova Totem and Magma Totem, and increasing the damage done by the Magma Totem. Rogue: Fan of Knives cooldown removed. Daggers more useful for Fan of Knives. Druid: Swipe will now be a baseline ability. He mentions that these changes will be seen in the next minor content patch. Ghostcrawler also hints that they will be available in the next PTR push (which we're expecting relatively soon)

  • Ghostcrawler speaks! about talents, the forums, and his whiteboard

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    11.13.2008

    Buffed.de has captured the elusive Ghostcrawler in his native habitat: answering questions about class balance. This creature has only been caught in blurry pictures and fleeting glances before, so it's awesome to get a nice, good look at Greg Street, the man who singlehandedly nerfed Paladins to the ground, baby (we kid, we kid).He talks about what it was like coming from working on Age of Empires III for Ensemble Studios, and Blizzard's theory of "concentrated coolness" -- they want there to be cool everywhere you look in the game. He says dispel and spell pushback mechanics are still due for updates, and of course he talks about talent changes (this is Ghostcrawler, what did you expect): Destruction Warlocks and Ret Pallys get mentioned, and he says there's a whiteboard in his office with a list of things he wants to fix. Affliction Warlocks, you're next. Beware of ending up on Ghostcrawler's nerfboard!We're kidding again. GC also talks about the long-awaited dual-spec feature, and says that they're thinking of building in costs like the Mage table, where everyone will have to click on something to change a spec, or there may be a consumable charge. He specifically mentions a "trash" build versus a "boss" build, so we'll have to see how that works out -- it would be a little weird to have to get a full raid together to change over to your PvP spec. And lastly, he talks about the forums -- their goal there is to have people talk to each other, not yell at each other. And good luck with that. Very nice interview.

  • Ghostcrawler: The rules of the role forums

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    11.06.2008

    1st Rule: You do not talk about the role forums.2nd Rule: You do not talk about the role forums.3rd Rule: If this is your first post on the role forums, you have to fight.There are eight rules to Fight Club, and there are eight rules to the new role forums. Coincidence? Highly likely. Ghostcrawler has referenced the movie before, and for some reason I could see him kicking the crap out of himself screaming "Don't nerf me, bro!"But nonetheless, Ghostcrawler has outlined eight simple and easy to follow rules for these new discussion forums. We'll take a look at them all after the break, but the highlight of the rules is rule #4 which in part says, "Sometimes Blizzard employees, such as me, respond to threads." That along with the preamble remark that "...class designers, such as myself, visit [the class forums] less often than the role forums," makes these new forums very interesting.It looks like the discussion and back and forth we've come to see in the beta will continue on the new role forums. This can only lead to good things.The full rules after the break for all you special and unique snowflakes.

  • Paladins nerfed on the beta

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    10.25.2008

    MMO-Champion is showing a good run down of the recent paladin changes. We knew these were coming. While many of the changes don't seem like they're nerfing the Paladin class to the ground, the changes are definitely a nerf.Most of the changes are centering around the Retribution tree. Some are pretty crazy, like Seal of Corruption dealing holy damage, and Divine Storm dealing physical damage. There is no indication if these changes will make it into patch 3.0.3 or arrive in a later update.There's a couple of other changes that stick out for me. Seal of Command lost about 20% of it's overall damage Most other seals were reduced by around 13% to 21% Judgement of the Wise grants 15% of base mana instead of 33% Most other judgement effects are reduced by about 15% Art of War was retooled to increase damage of Judgement, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm instead of increasing critical strike damage In the glyph department, the Glyph of Crusader Strike now reduces the mana cost of Crusader Strike by 20%, instead of increasing the damage dealt by 20%.And finally, Blessing of Might now increases AP by 306. It used to be 305. So it's not a total nerf...

  • Poll: Who had the better gear?

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    10.14.2008

    There were two distinctive t-shirts I saw at BlizzCon this year. The first was worn by Greg Street, a.k.a. Ghostcrawler. It featured his pet crab that he refers to often enough. If I recall correctly, he lost it in the Sunken Temple.The second was worn by Rob Pardo, the Executive VP of Game Design at Blizzard. It featured an image of a rainbow above the words "Diablo 3." It also had unicorns and flowers on it. Very Barbie like.While both shirts have their place, I think it'd be fun to know – which one would you rather have? Personally, I want the D3 shirt Pardo had on. Hilarious stuff there. But Ghostcrawler has gained quite a following as well. Vote for your favorite gear and be heard! %Poll-20873% Update: It's not being worn by a Blue, and therefore isn't poll-worthy, but we enjoyed this shirt, too.

  • BlizzCon 2008: WoW Q&A Panel Liveblog

    by 
    Daniel Whitcomb
    Daniel Whitcomb
    10.11.2008

    Hello Everyone! The Panel is about to start, and we have a front row seat. Check out the latest updates behind the break.

  • Ghostcrawler introduced to BlizzCon

    by 
    Adam Holisky
    Adam Holisky
    10.10.2008

    One of everyone's favorite people in the beta is Ghostcrawler. He's out there all the time interacting with fans, talking to developers, bringing back good information and discussion. Today Tom Chilton introduced him at the class panel. He got the largest applause of the day. Everyone was very excited to get to see him and hear what he had to say.Ghostcrawler, a.k.a Greg Street, is the lead game systems designer for WoW. Basically that's designing the classes and other systems in the game.He handled the crowed very well. He probably could do some stand up with his wit. When people booed about something they didn't like he'd make a joke and have them laughing the very next second. Perhaps the best moment is when he jokingly said to a question about retribution paladins: "Don't nerf me, bro!"