Raid Guild Leader's Perspective on BC
In this thread, Tigole responds to comments by players about the difficulty of raids in The Burning Crusade thus far, that Magtheridon and Gruul are both being looked at for re-tuning, as well as responding to concerns about the overwhelming need to use consumables in new content.
>> 1) The scale up in difficulty from 5 mans to heroic 5 mans and Karazhan is intense. We cleared through MoV on our first timer, then spent this week banging our heads against Romeo and Juliet. Most of our team has the best gear out of 5 mans. Since our gear is not going to get much better, and our skills will improve only so much after 2 years of raiding, the only way we'll be able to reliably beat this level of content is using massive amounts of consumables. At least 2-4 flasks, and food, pots, and elixirs for everyone. This kind of consumable mania is really against the spirit of our three nights a week, semi-casual raiding philosophy. If I need to spend 8 hours a week farming for raids I will likely not raid. Consumables are far too important now.
>
> We're discussing various solutions to issues with consumables. We're aware of the issue and agree that it is an issue. With that said, I don't really think Karazhan is overly difficult and requires massive amounts of consumables.
>
>> 2) The gear improvements from raiding are too poor. .
>
> We're taking another look at the raiding gear. I'd agree with your statement.
>
>> ) The keying process is too difficult. I'm not worried about our normal raiders - what I'm worried about is attrition. What happens 5 months down the road when we need a fill in for the black temple? We'll have to recruit someone in blues, run them to revered with 3 factions, then through heroic 5 mans, Kara, etc. etc. etc. Because the keying process is so difficult the top guilds on the server will be even more relentless trying to pry members away from less progressed guild. A suggestion here would be to make the raids like Arcatraz - the person with the key can open the door. If not, replacing members is going to be very, very difficult.
>
> I partially agree and partially disagree. We have some ideas that will help people "catch up" who join the endgame later on. With that said, I'm not so sure endgame players would like the face of the game if everyone had instant access to all of the content. There is something to be said for progression and the sense of accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, we have to be careful not to create a brick wall for new people, but I think there is a balance to be struck here.
>
>> 4) There seems to be a distinct lack of 25 man raids that are going to be doable by "normal" guilds.
>
> I agree. As I have already stated on these forums, Magtheridon is proving more difficult than intended. We are planning on toning him down. We've made some minor fixes to Gruul as well but I think that encounter needs to be toned down too. Gruul and Mag should feel like Onyxia did 6 months into vanilla WoW.
>
> I don't really agree with points 5 and 6 but I do feel like your previous points all had merit. Hopefully, the changes I mentioned will alleviate some of your worries.
Consortium payment = when ??
In this thread, Nethaera tries to direct players to a CS thread dealing with the currently missing recurring payments by the Consortium in Nagrand.
> We have a query in on this right now to find out more on the situation. You can follow the progress by watching this thread in Customer Service- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=79820522&pageNo=1&sid=1#2
Guide to getting Arena Epics
In this thread, Drysc comments that the developers are keeping a close eye on the point gain rate for 2vs2 and 3vs3 teams.
> We are closely watching the arena as it progresses and we'll be reviewing specific aspects as it continues, such as the point reduction for the smaller team sizes.
>
> At this moment we're happy with the amount of time required for a 5v5 team to obtain the five piece set and weapon/s while at the baseline rating, which is somewhere around 8 months. If you plan to only keep a baseline rating then you're going to get some very nice rewards, but the time investment could be said to be less than ideal. Keep in mind that at the beginning of a new season (every three months) new rewards may also be made available depending on PvE itemization, so obtaining items quickly is obviously advantageous. As mentioned though we're watching the current point reduction for the smaller teams closely and if deemed necessary they could be adjusted.
Tinfoil Hat Time(why blizz isn't fixing AM)
In this thread, Tseric explains the reasons why it's so difficult to fix Arcane Missles and Blink.
> It's not like we don't believe people when they say AM or Blink acts funky, it's just that it is a latency related bug and difficult to reproduce on demand and to fully resolve through coding. They both have similar bugs because of the way they both target. A direct damage spell does different checks when casting and firing at their target. Blink and AM use a sort of terrain-mapping function to determine a path, rather than just pinging the target. It's the terrain inconsistencies which cause the failure of the spell, coupled with latency issues.
>
> We've wanted to implement new methods of testing, such as putting 'artificial load' on a test environment, but that can be costly. We're also looking into other possibilities of 'live testing' so that latency can be taken into account, somewhat.
>
> The biggest problem with resolving these bugs has been recreating the variable of network latency, which affects these spells more than other types.
Itemization Hotfix - 3/2/2007
In this thread, Tseric informs priests that a hotfix is being applied to Head slot Arena rewards for their class.
> There is a hot fix going in which may have particular impact on the Priest class which we wanted to inform you of.
>
> Gladiator's Satin Hood and Gladiator's Satin Mantle have been found to be granting only +Healing rather than the intended +Damage and Healing on the PTR. We are correcting this with a hot fix, however the tooltip will not reflect this until an upcoming client patch. For the time being, we will be removing the items from the vendor, so as to minimize any confusion. They will be reinstated when the tooltip issue is corrected.
Did Ice Lance or Frost Nova get nerfed?
In this thread, Tseric explains the reason for the change to Frost Nova that is currently on the PTR's.
> The change affects Frost Nova. Frozen targets were never intended to be frozen after a critical. However, the usage of Ice Lance made it very noticable that being frozen was persisting through being crit, whereas normal damage had a chance to break the state. By insuring that a crit will break the frozen state, back to back crits from Ice Lance won't be occurring and such spikes in damage disappear.
Windfury change coming for Dual Wielding Shaman
In this thread, Tseric explains that a change to fix an unintended use of multiple ranks of Windfury is being applied next patch.
> I always know how to break the news, cause I rarely candy-coat.
>
> Downranking Windfury on two weapons to gain separate cooldowns is a bug with a fix incoming. This means down-ranking on different weapons will no longer stagger cooldowns. The devs want this bug resolved, as it has been a primary source of unintended Enhancement DPS, which they have seen as excessive. Enhancement DPS has been high in many situations and this is something they want to tone down. When this change goes live, it will lend itself to that end, rather than the devs having to look for direct changes to Enh. DPS. Good chance they will still be watching this aspect of Shaman after the bug fix is implemented.
>
> While I may be sorry to say as much, there you have it.
Later in the thread he adds:
>> Is the 3 second cooldown not suppose to be there (earlier confirmed as intended)?
>
> The 3 second cooldown is supposed to be there.
>
>> Is the off-hand SUPPOSE to share a cooldown, and the work-around to this not intended?
>
> Yes, the off-hand is supposed to share the cooldown.
>
>> Is the 3 second cooldown causing the 'quad' Windfury procs, and this is what the devs are saying is creating too much dps?
>
>
> The down-ranking and circumvention of the full 3 second cooldown was something causing extra DPS, as you gain more procs overall in the same time-frame.
Why do we need CC?
In this thread, Tseric shares his thoughts on the question.
> I thought you might have, heh. Moved for you to the Shaman board.
>
> I think this'll be a long standing contention because the devs don't want to copy/paste a CC ability and the players have built it up as a necessity. Sometimes repeating a thing over and over makes it true in the mind.
>
> Sometimes this strikes me the same as people saying 'My survivability in PVP is terrible'. I think I've practically heard every single class petition that as a primary class concern at one time or another. It sounds reasonable on the face, but doesn't make sense the more you look into it. Granted, this isn't really the same situation, but I think the collective might be so adamant as a collective decision, not necessarily based on the merit of the claim, itself.
>
> Thoughts?
+6MP5 on chest does not seem to work
In this thread, Tseric lets players know there's a known issue with mana per 5 second enchants being applied while one of your items has the same MP5 value.
> As mentioned in another thread around here, there are several areas where this is occurring and have seen implemented resolutions for various 'mana per 5' bonuses. These changes don't appear to be making it into 2.0.10, but will come in a future patch.
>
> Specifically, there is this one:
>
> - The mana regen effect from 'Enchant Chest - Restore Mana Prime' does not stack with various items that also grant 6 mana per 5.
>
> Some of the specific bonuses are not stacking, such as +6/5 secs not stacking with other +6/5 secs.
He goes on to add:
> There are different cases, but most of them appear to be based around having say, 7/secs on a chest piece, then enchanting with 7/sec. The same type of stat buff won't stack. So, the middle example is most accurate, where a piece already has one quantity of mana/5 and that same quantity is being reapplied through an enchant, like from Glyph of Renewal.
Is there...
In this thread, Tseric comments on the request for a "Shaman review."
> The devs have no intention of going back to the days of class reviews. Class balance changes will likely come more incrementally, as even this upcoming patch shows.
>
> That, and petitions are against the forum guidelines.
He then adds:
> When I last commented on any kind of 'line-up' for dev attention, Warriors and Shaman were under consideration or at least, the devs thought they had issues that merited attention. I don't believe that sentiment has changed, yet.
What exactly is our role?
In this thread, Tseric tries to convey the intended role of Paladins to clear up confusion.
> A healing/tank hybrid. Every class needs some capacity to deal damage, as that is the primary component for the solo game, but Paladins have always placed fairly low on the damage spectrum.
>
> Rogues define the baseline measurement and, on average, all classes fall below that baseline. Now, in certain cases some classes may exceed that baseline, whether they be a Mage in a particular raid encounter or a Fury Warrior having a good run in a BG, but on average that is the way damage is arranged.
>
> Burst damage and big crits are harder to control and design from a development perspective, due to the number of random or unpredictable elements in any formula. Therefore, crit-based abilities and burst damage tends to see more fine tuning and tweaking than sustainable damage.
>
> As far as tanking and healing, the Paladin has been given plenty of tools for healing and threat gain/management.
What's the deal with my Imp?
In this thread, reported on a previous Blue Watch, Tseric replies with updated information, letting players know the Imp has had its spell damage coefficients restored.
> Ah, I was looking for this thread...
>
> The spell damage coefficients have been reapplied to the imp, but they are obviously lower than before.
>
> In regard to the improved firebolt, this was a design change that was backlogged for a while because of the nature of the casting time.
>
> This talent has not been working correctly for a long time for a basic reason. The game simply doesn't recognize the ability to reduce casting time below 1.5 seconds, when relying on pet AI. It's a tech limitation that imposes a barrier at 1.5 second cast time. The talent was originally coded to reduce casting to less than 1.5 seconds and the game basically gets confused, which is why the first point worked, but the second point didn't apply the appropriate reduction. At this time, we can't change the mechanics to support a reduction to a 1 second cast time, so the talented reduction was changed from .5 seconds per point, to .25 seconds per point. So, at the least, the second talent point has an effect, rather than doing almost nothing at all. Yes, it is something of a workaround fix, but we're limited in our options to make the talent work as originally designed.
>
> edit - the Imp's casting time is inhibited by particular AI. Player spells or cast times of 1 second are not the issue at hand.
