nethaera
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Forum Post of the Day: Scaling warlock pets
Amongst all the candy corn on the warlock forums a post arose today dealing with a topic close to every lock's heart, despite how cold and twisted they might be inside. We're talking about pet scaling here, or rather the lack thereof. Pets are far too squishy at higher levels, locks say, and the chief cause of this is the fact that they simply don't scale properly as a lock's gear improves. This is largely a PvP concern, although I would love to be able to bring my Felguard into a raid instance and have him last more than 3.5 seconds. Every piece of armor my lock adds to her kit should buff her pet as well as her own locky self, it only makes sense. Well, that's the way it should be, but it's not working properly, and the locks are looking for some love. And before you go there, no this isn't a call for a buff, this is an example of a bug that needs to be addressed, and has nothing to do with whether or not locks are overpowered.The good news is that the devs are interested in hearing what you locks have to say on this issue. This is one case where they are asking for feedback and suggestions on how to improve the situation. Of course we're talking about constructive feedback, so Neth asks that you keep the complaining to a minimum if you want to have your voice heard.
No new WoW Battlegrounds until WotLK
PvP in World of Warcraft isn't perfect, but it is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there are only four Battlegrounds (and the Arena) to choose from at present, so it can get a bit, well ... old after a while. That's why we've been itching for a new one. We've been promised one in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, but that's so far away! Will there be another Battleground somewhere in the middle to keep us interested until the WotLK launch?Blizzard rep Nethaera said "no" in a post on the official forums yesterday. Our friends at WoW Insider have previously cited Blizzard's concern over stretching the Battlegroups too thin (thereby increasing queue times) as a reason for the hold-up. This time, though, Nethaera just said the devs at Blizzard are too busy working on patch 2.3 (which includes improvements to the Alterac Valley Battleground) and the expansion, which "includes a new battleground and of course the outdoor pvp zone, Lake Wintergrasp." So how are they going to solve the queue time problem when WotLK ships? Hmm.Well, get comfy, fellow PvP fanatics; it's going to be a long wait before we get something totally new to play with.[Via WoW Insider]
No new battleground until WotLK
Nethaera has confirmed that there will be no new battlegrounds revealed prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King, much to the chagrin of PvP'ers everywhere. Although players have previously expressed interest in having more choice, Blizzard has voiced concern about the effects that a fifth choice might have on queues. Hopefully they have some tricks up their sleeves for combating this when the highly anticipated new battleground arrives via the expansion. Although this is a bit disappointing, it is hardly unexpected, and there are so many upcoming positive changes that it's hard to be a sad panda for long. Currently, the devs are focused on improving Alterac Valley for patch 2.3 and creating new content for WotLK, which will include an outdoor PvP zone, Lake Wintergrasp. Following in the wake of Halaa's undeniable success, this zone will boast siege warfare, and many other innovations in world PvP. As for what the new battleground will be like? I'd still love to see an Aldor vs. Scryers battleground; and as much as we all love to see new content drop, we can at least try to satiate ourselves knowing that what we will be getting will continue to advance PvP as we know it. Now; a little less sad panda face please!
Will name changes let ninjas run free?
While Robin and I think it's a great idea, some people are in an outcry about the upcoming name-change service that Blizzard is offering. As Monsoon tells Blizzard on the forums:This is probably the worst ever decision ever made. How are we supposed to track ninjas and retards who may apply to our guild if there is no way to track their name changes?"Nethaera calmly responds:Perhaps putting them on an ignore list might help.The ignore list will be automatically updated once that character's name change gets activated. Of course no system is fool proof, and there will always be someone looking to exploit things, but realistically, is it a terribly big problem if people you consider "ninjas" and "retards" yet are still unwilling to put on your ignore list can change their names once every 90 days? In my experience, the kind of person who likes to call others "retards" generally isn't very nice themselves, and tends to find new "retards" all the time (with no offense meant to Monsoon here). I don't think it would be possible, even if the ignore list were extended to include a potential thousands of names, for some people to be satisfied that all the "ninjas" and "retards" were sufficiently dealt with and removed from the system
Forum Post of the Day: Dalaran and faction animosity
When Wrath launches next year huge changes are in store for the people and places of Azeroth. The greatest reason I love this game is because of the compelling storyline underneath it all. We not only have great characters and plot lines to interact with, those plot lines progress, which is not always the case in an MMO. Dalaran, for instance, which has been sealed away for generations, will be opened up as the new capital city for those traveling to Northrend.But some are not happy with the prospect of another neutral city akin to Shattrath. As Sorun of The Venture Co sees it, shifting Dalaran from an Alliance city to a neutral city would only harm the lore. He says that the factions want to hate each other, want to be pitted head-to-head at every turn, and certain elements in TBC and elsewhere have shown a trend toward cooperation he doesn't like at all. Drysc mentions that no one has yet confirmed that the city will be neutral, and Neth makes a valid point on the subject later on in the thread: I think it's a bit too early to be worried or upset about what is and isn't going to be in Dalaran. When we are further along and have information on it, we'll share it with you all. In the meantime, remember, Dalaran is filled with the world's most powerful magic users. While they work together, they are also filled with many different personalities and more importantly, have a bit of a crisis on their hands by the name of Malygos. I am going to hazard a guess that the Kirin Tor are going to be using all the available resources they can to survive the onslaught.Irregardless of whether or not Dalaran ends up a neutral city, the forum thread raises an interesting topic: do players really want to hate members of the opposite faction? I know there is plenty of rivalry between the Horde and the Alliance, some created by the game itself and some created by the players. But I personally play characters of both factions and can't really say I prefer one over the other. Maybe I'm in the minority, I'm not sure. Perhaps you can help out here. Do you prefer hatred and animosity between the factions, or is cooperation more your thing? %Poll-3998%
Polls arrive at WoW forums
Forum-goers have been requesting polls for a while now, with posts such as, "It's time to start POLLING your playerbase," which actually argued that Blizzard should set up in-game polling stations to ask about whether or not players really want various new features in the game. Nethaera responded to this particular post right away; her basic point was to say that "Polls can be incredibly inaccurate" -- they're fun, but there are actually a wide variety of methods that need to be used in order to get proper feedback. Furthermore, just because the popular voice thinks that the game should move in one direction, that doesn't actually mean that would be the best direction for the game to move in. The developers need to make decisions with feedback in mind, but also balanced against the hard, cold core of the reality they're facing, not the dreamland that players may have in mind. That said, apparently there are lots of player suggestions that have been put into the game, including even flight path changes and new graveyards.But Blizzard wants to give us polls anyway! As Drysc tells the American forum-goers:Welcome to our first test of the World of Warcraft polling system! With this new poll system we'll be able to pick the collective brains of the forum goers, and encourage discussion based on the questions they pose. While we're pretty sure that they won't always be accurate, it will hopefully still be a lot of fun. With our first poll we're asking you, the poster, the controversial and highly debated, discussed, and argued question: Does .999~ = 1? While we already have some great poll questions all lined up, we need more! Offer us your best questions for future polls. These can be yes/no or multiple choice, and if we like it, you may just find your poll up here in the weeks and months ahead.
What will happen to the Scourge when Arthas dies?
We've talked before about the question of what exactly will happen to Arthas, but it's looking pretty likely that we are going to be able to actually kill him in Wrath of the Lich King. This raises another interesting question however: Sincast asked over on the forums, "When Arthas is killed in-game does that mean that undead will be no more?..." Nethaera popped in right away to answer him... sorta:Interesting concept to think about isn't it? But does killing Arthas really mean the undead cease to exist? They existed when he was just a paladin didn't they? There are things to ponder here but most importantly... Does the Lich King cease to be when the vessel is destroyed?Although we have seen that Arthas and the Lich King are now "one," it remains to be seen what "one" really means for them. Are they two souls in one body? Is Arthas the flesh and the Lich King his armor? What kind of state would the Lich King exist in after Arthas was killed? What sort of threat would the Scourge pose at that point -- just fodder for new characters leveling up in future expansions perhaps?
Patch 2.2.2 and you: Brewfest tomorrow
It looks like we'll be getting another patch tomorrow, according to Nethaera -- Brewfest is coming! That'll be two consecutive patch weeks, for the first time in my memory. We've seen Dan's Brewfest preview, as well as some info from Blizzard, and all of it looks like it's going to be pretty fun.The irony for me is that I don't drink any alcohol in real life. This may sound odd, but I usually try to avoid it in the game too, if for no other reason than I don't know exactly how my characters should act when they're drunk out of their minds. I've tried roleplaying it before, though, at the Darkmoon Faire, and I guess I was believable enough! It's not that hard to just be uninhibited. Still, something tells me that Brewfest isn't actually about getting drunk. What's the significance of this holiday for you?
More balances coming to AV
After not playing in there for what probably has been months, I found myself back in Alterac Valley this morning-- with the recent AFK changes, things have just gotten so much more active in there, and considering this weekend is an AV honor weekend, there will probably be a lot of blood shed beween the Frostwolves and the Stormpikes. Of course, just because players are active doesn't mean they know what they're doing-- we had twenty people standing around the SP GY flag this morning, and I was the only one actually clicking on it to capture. Oh well.And now that players are playing in there, it's time to look at the other problems in AV-- map balance and fun factor. That bridge is still an issue when Alliance actually sit down and guard it, but the past few matches I've seen have a completely other problem-- it's just a zerg race. Sure, some folks stay on D at times, but really it's just a matter of which side gets to the other boss first.And Neth says changes are coming, specifically that Blizz wants to make AV "more fun" and "more balanced." She can't say what that means yet, but I'd be very surprised if the "more balanced" part didn't involve a little map adjusting. As for the "more fun," who knows? Personally I'd like (and I know some of you share this sentiment) to see additions in terms of the PvE stuff, but Blizzard has learned a lot since they first created AV. Instead of the summoning quests and the NPCs entering the action, I'm guessing there'll be things like zone-wide buffs and other Halaa-like happenings.But as always, we'll see. In the meantime, who wants to go get Balinda with me?
Strange patch note choices (or, my last Orc shoulders post ever, I swear)
I can confirm for you that yes, patch 2.2 has finally fixed our Orc male shoulders. Finally, my Orc Shaman can hold his shoulders up proudly (ok, well, a little hunched down under all the weight, but still). I know lots of you readers are tired of hearing about it, but the saga is over: our Orc shoulders have grown back. Now I'll never mention it again.Strangely enough, however, this change didn't make the patch notes, and when players ask why, Neth sounds a little tired of talking about it herself. She says that while the change did not appear in the official 2.2 notes, "one graphical item of which has been stated as being fixed many times now, does not make it less accurate." I've wondered before who exactly writes the patch notes, and yet again I find myself wondering what the method is behind their madness. Some patch changes, including some boss tweaks, are clearly not included on purpose. Some huge changes (like the DOTs affected by resilience change) get the smallest of mentions. And some small changes very much awaited by players, like the anti-AFK measures, get quite a bit of ink.Now, I doubt that Blizzard purposely left the Orc shoulders change off the patch notes-- they probably just didn't think it important enough to include. But surely there are things that they do leave off of the notes on purpose, and some things that the devs might not think are big, but that whoever writes the patch notes chooses to emphasize. Whatever their method behind the madness, I can't see what it is at all.
2.2 coming to the live realms tomorrow morning
By now, it's almost a certainty-- not only did the PTR shut down last week, but Neth has almost confirmed on the forums that patch 2.2 is coming tomorrow morning. That means, I guess, that Amanda was right on our podcast a few weeks ago-- she was the only one who predicted it would show up this week, so kudos to her. Of course, it also messes up my plans for the week, unfortunately. I was planning to snipe Brutes and capture flags at least through Thursday, but now I may have to punctuate that with some voice chatting.And besides voice chatting, what else are we seeing in this new patch we've waited so long for? The full patch notes are here for now (though they may be replaced with the 2.2.2 notes in the next day or so). Anti-AFK measures are showing up, as well as the Haste rebalancing. And most of the class stuff seems like bugfixes more or less. If you're a Druid, it'll be good to know that you can attack from further away while in Cat form, Shaman ankhs will now stack to ten (nice!) and Hunters with Raptor pets can now go out and learn Dash, but otherwise, it's all bugfixes-- some more harsh than others (the Six Demon Bag no longer benefits from spell damage, so bummer for that one).But the thing that will really pull me away from Halo 3 this week is probably the simplest. Finally, my Orc male shoulders are returned to full size. Finally, after more than two months, I can walk around Orgrimmar with my head held up proudly, trapped between two huge masses of metal. See you tomorrow, 2.2!
Breakfast Topic: Make up your own mounts
A poster on the forums asked about whether people would like to see spider mounts in the game. It's true he was just asking out of boredom, but to me this actually an interesting question. We have the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, of course (pictured here, courtesy of Wowhead), but that's more or less impossible to get now, and it's not exactly a spider in any case. What sorts of new mounts will there be then? Nethaera responded: "I couldn't tell you what possible new mounts there will be. :( Perhaps a little further along we'll have information on more of the fun features that are getting added in with Wrath of the Lich King." What mounts would you ask Blizzard to put in the new expansion? Flying machines are already going in at some point, and bats and hippogryphs have already been mentioned. How about rideable owls? For land mounts, maybe you could ride on the shoulders of your very own yeti! Better yet, what if we could pilot our own slow, yet moveable siege weapons?
Polling players on new content
There's an interesting discussion going on over on the forums about whether or not Blizzard should conduct player polls. Antiquity from Lightning's Blade can't see why they don't-- it's an easy way for them to get quick feedback about different aspects of gameplay. But Nethaera disagrees. She says (and I can see her point as well) that polls are commonly inaccurate, which is definitely true, and while she doesn't exactly come out and say it, she seems to be implying that Blizzard would rather hear player feedback in terms of discussion rather than in numbers. Just hearing that 70% of players will use voice chat doesn't tell the whole story-- more important to know would be the reasons players would use voice chat, and in what situations they would use it.So it's not really likely that Blizzard will implement in-game polling anytime soon-- for now, they're content to get their player feedback from the forums (and, I suspect, from sites just like this one).However. We here at WoW Insider have no such compunctions, and we love to hear your feedback in terms of numbers just as much as in the comments. And I especially like Antiquity's poll suggestion, so here it is. Yes, this isn't really a solution to what he wants-- he wants to hear in-game voices, not forum voices or WoW Insider reader voices. But it is an interesting question, and I would like to see what you all think.%Poll-3190%(I did leave off the "All of the above" choice-- if that was on there, I don't see why everyone wouldn't choose it. This way, you're forced to choose your preference.)
Death Knights not welcome at town picnic
It's a problem: here you are, a master of your very own runed blade, a summoner of an army of undead, an immensely powerful tank and damage-dealer -- and yet no one will let you into the lore party over at Starshine Shadowstrider's house! "Yuckie!" they say. "He got his powers from the Lich King! ...Eww!""But I turned against him!" you proclaim in your defense. "I wised up and came back to the Light, sorta. Okay not really but I'm still not completely bad! It's like... fighting..." your voice gradually gets quieter as party-goers stop listening, "... fighting fire with ... fire. Dammit. I'm gonna go kill Onyxia by myself! That'll show 'em."Yes indeed. It's looking like the future's going to be pretty rough for Death Knights. As Nethaera explained, "It's most likely that Death Knights aren't going to find themselves being popular guests at the town picnic."But Death Knights aren't alone in dealing with this sort of thing. "Keep in mind," Nethaera points out, "that Warlocks aren't generally welcomed with open arms either (depending on the culture of the race in question)." Here we have a good role model for plucky summoners of the undead: Warlocks are magic users who use the powers of the Burning Legion against the Burning Legion itself! Have not the Alliance and the Horde not gradually come to accept that just because some people happen to summon demons, cause agony, corruption and ruin, as well as steal people's souls -- that doesn't make them inherently evil, right? So it is with Death Knights. So what if you betrayed all the peoples of Azeroth to go and serve the Lich King for a little while? So what if his taint of undeathiness is still flowing through you while you draw those unholy runes and create zombies? You can now go to Shattrath to have your picture taken with a Naaru! Your reputation should be squeaky clean.While Blizzard may yet find a plausible reason for Death Knights to be fighting against the Lich King rather than with him, keep in mind that even if that doesn't work out, you've got one magic word that will make everything okay. Whenever people won't trust you or play with you just because it would seem that you might possibly be technically evil (on the outside)... Just say: "Lore, lol."
On woodworking: Why we can't have everything we want
A player on the official forums asked what the new woodworking profession would be like, how gathering wood would work, and so on. If it had been me I'd have asked, "How much wood could a woodworker work if a woodworker could work wood?" and "Where would a wannabe woodworker who would work with wood find wood with which to work the woodworker's wood work?" But I digress.Nethaera was kind enough to pop in and basically tell us that we were getting ahead of ourselves again, and imply that woodworking probably wouldn't work in this expansion."But why just one profession per expansion?" you ask? Got profession fever have you?Well Nethaera responds to this as well: We're never short on ideas. We have many that we would like to implement, but implementing them isn't always such a simple task. For a new profession you need to consider: How it will work? Where will the recipes come from and where in the world will they be placed? Who will the trainers be and what is their story? What recipes are necessary and what materials are required for them? What exactly will be the result of the profession as far as stat changes and enhancements be? What art assets are going to be needed? What technology will support it on the back end? Why will people want it? Is it ultimately fun and interesting? And many more things. Then in the end, it must balance out with the rest of the game as well as with other professions. Combine that with all the other things we are working on for Wrath of the Lich King and it isn't something we can just toss together overnight. So there it is, as usual: this whole "game development" thing can be a lot more complex than it seems, and consequently we players can't always have as much new stuff as we might want. Still, woodworking is in those Blizzard offices somewhere, percolating through the developers' brains -- so maybe one day we might actually get to work with the wood we've always wanted.
Blizzard, do the unthinkable
This is blasphemy, I know. I'm messing with the natural order of things when I suggest something like this. But here's what I think: Blizzard should give us a release date.Excuse me while I duck all those tomatoes. Check out this forum thread, in which Neth voices her feelings about having to deal with players asking about a release date all the time. She gets as far as saying "later, but sooner than much later," which basically means next week or the week after.Fine then. But, in cases like this, why doesn't Blizzard just go ahead and say a release date? That would shut everybody up, we could all move on with our lives, and Neth wouldn't have to deal with that stuff. And it doesn't even need to be accurate-- if Blizzard said "2.2 is coming on September 18th," and then it dropped on the 11th (which is when Blizzard really planned to release it), then everyone would actually be happy that it came out early. And yes, Blizzard doesn't want to have to explain delays to us, but delays are delays-- surely videogame fans have gotten used to it by now.I'm not saying they need to change their whole company-- they're not going to give us a date for Wrath of the Lich King, and I'm fine with that: I'd rather see it "when it's finished" (and we will see a release date for it anyway, eventually) But for something like 2.2, where testing is almost complete and they must have some clear idea of when it will drop, why not give us a target, however off it might be? Even "before November," in my mind, is better than all the question ducking that Neth and the other CMs are doing.
Death Knight tidbits from Neth
In a silly thread in the Druid forums asking whether the druids would get a "dark form" to go along with the Death Knight being a dark version of the Paladin (which it...sort of is, I guess), US CM Nethaera dropped a few interesting pieces of DK information.[when asked if DKs will start at level 55, instead of 60 or 70] That is the current thinking. It could still be subject to change though and is not concrete. We're still toying with ideas of how we want to make it all work. We want people to feel like they are learning not only the how's of becoming a Death Knight from the lore perspective, but also how to play one.[More character slots?] Undetermined as of yet. We'll let people know when we know more.[...the current feeling is that a player with any class over 55 (or whatever the level ends up being) will be able to unlock Death Knight? ] yes. That is our current thinking.[asked about balance] It is going to be balanced against other classes and will not be able to stomp everyone else just because it's a Death Knight. Yes, they will be powerful but in their own unique way. What makes it a Hero class is that it is from Warcraft lore as a Hero class and also you will get access to it at a higher level. Any race can be a Death Knight in our current thinking as well since the path to corruption can be founded with good intentions much like what happened to Arthas.[How many abilities will DKs start with?] Undetermined as of yet. We're still fleshing a lot of things out. This is another reason we caution people about the perception that the expansion is coming out 'too soon'. We have only shown people the tip of the iceberg and have a lot more that we are still working out and planning for. Once we have more details, we'll be sharing them so people can discuss it more and plan for the future.So there's a lot of "not sure yet" in that post, but there's also some good information, notably that they currently think DKs will start at level 55. That's a bit lower than I would have expected. 58 or 60 would make more sense, in my opinion, in order to be able to start out in Outland (but then again, does that make sense lore-wise?). So how excited are you about Death Knights? Are they your main reason to buy Wrath? The change that will kill WoW?[thanks, Natulcien]
More rumblings of new Dustwallow Marsh content
Here's a topic I almost feel like I've been talking about too much lately, but there is some good news to report. Neth confirms, once again, that Blizzard is planning on streamlining the experience from 1-58, and then adds something else: there are changes, big changes in terms of "detailed quests," being added to Dustwallow Marsh. And while we heard mention of Dustwallow Marsh before, this is the first time I've ever heard it mentioned in conjunction with 1-58 specifically. It seems like Blizzard is actually planning to bring about new content for people who haven't yet hit 60.And that is pretty exciting. So what might be going down in Dustwallow? Jaina Proudmoore is there in Theramore, and of course she's got some old ties to Arthas, so something might be happening in that vein. Onyxia has taken residence in Dustwallow (when she's not masquerading in Stormwind), and we've also heard rumblings in Outland that Deathwing may be making an appearance in either Azeroth (or Northrend) soon. And Dustwallow is also very near to Alcaz Island, which used to be where a certain missing King was previously seen ingame. Or it could be something completely new, of course, that we haven't even heard of yet.At any rate, it's cool to hear that midlevel content is coming, even if it's in a pretty unexpected place (still no Heroic Deadmines plans?). Get ready to go back to Dustwallow Marsh.
Armory changes URLs
Just a quick note: the Armory, which used to be located at armory.worldofwarcraft.com (and still is, actually), can now be found at wowarmory.com. Neth confirms that it's not a bug or a hack or a spammer or anything-- apparently Blizzard just wanted to simplify the URL.Well, that, and "wowarmory.com" is a lot closer to "wow.com." And we all know that's what you think of when you want to find your favorite information about World of Warcraft, right?
Are Auction Houses coming to Shattrath?
In a word, no. Blizzard blue Nethaera posted in response to the umpteenth request for an Auction House in Shattrath. At least this time we got an explanation behind the decision.Blizzard feels an AH in Shattrath will eliminate the only reason for players to interact with others in older cities. They reason players can use the Shatt portals to get to the AH in the older cities and then activate their hearthstone to get back to the Outlands.This plan also spreads out the population. Anyone remember when their was only one AH for each faction? Ironforge was known as Lagforge. Think what would happen to your framerate should they put an Auction House in the Outlands capital. Yeah, not pretty.Of course "not currently planned" doesn't mean "never." When the WotLK expansion launches and Dalaran becomes the player hub, they may reconsider. Until then, don't be getting friendly with any Innkeeper other than the ones in Shattrath, because your hearthstone setting isn't going to be changing for a long time. Unless you're a mage.
