Blue Watch - April 24th, 2007
This is the April 24th edition of Blue Watch, covering posts by Blizzard employees in the General, Paladin, Priest, Test Realm, EU Druid, and EU Test Realm forums.
Additionally, there is a Blue Watch Wiki page, with a Table of Contents for easy-access to the topics that interest you, as well as a "Go to thread" link to go directly to the post on the official forums.
You can also view everything involved in the Blue Watch, including Blue Watch Archives, by clicking on the Blue Watch link on the menu to the left.
WoW Before Honor system / bg's / arenas.... Go to thread
In this thread, Nethaera comments on WoW PvP prior to the release of the Honor System.
While it was a lot of fun for many, it was also disruptive for those attempting to make PvE progress in those areas and also could get very laggy depending on the amount of players in one concentrated area. During that time, many players expressed a desire to have actual goals and Battlegrounds and Arenas, as well as outdoor objectives, now give players some goals and accomplishments to aim for.
For you, things may seem worse. For others, they may love the additions and the changes that have been made since then.
Balance in general is a very delicate thing to maintain especially when you add more content, items, areas, abilities and more as we have. It's easy enough to say balance should == x, but in reality getting to x can be a much harder thing than people may realize. It takes time, patience and a lot of fine tuning on an ongoing basis.
In this thread, Drysc lets the poster know there will not be a free respec for classes with talent changes in 2.1.
Free respecs are only given in cases where talent positions actually move and would break a build, and not in cases where talents are simply altered as far as the benefit they provide.
Our guild is done with WoW, thanks Blizzard Go to thread
In this thread, Drysc points out the fact that Arena Tournament rules regarding certain eligibility based on competition and prizes is not in Blizzard's hands.
I assume you're referring to the rules that are based on the laws and regulations of various US states and non-US countries in regards to competition rules. These are unfortunately not arbitrary, but quite real and quite limiting to those competing. We've done and will continue to do whatever possible to include as many players as we can; however, the local laws that restrict player participation are still laws we have to follow.
I'm sure that your local Senator or Congressman would be the best point of contact if you disagree with your local law regarding competitions and lotteries.
BLUE: Mage Q About Frostbite Change in Patch Go to thread
In this thread, Tseric provides information on the upcoming 2.1 change to Frostbite.
The current plan is to change the effect so that Frostbite only has diminishing returns with itself, not with other frost spells. Don't have exact details on the functionality, but the core issue is known and being addressed.
In this thread, Drysc comments on upcoming changes to the Priest talent Circle of Healing.
We've made some changes to Circle of Healing obviously, and we're just in the process of wait and see, taking baby steps as we go. Changes to Lightwell are along the same lines, we want to make sure our footing is there before taking the next step. It's generally better to make incremental changes instead of emptying the clip and seeing where things fell, which don't get me wrong, has happened before in some capacity. It's not an approach we generally intend or like to take though.
Sorry, you can not kill more ogres today Go to thread
In this thread, Drysc comments on the new quest type - Daily Quests - being added in 2.1.
If we were to limit the amount of ogres you could kill, or really more appropriately the number of beads you could turn in each day, we could then lessen the amount of beads required to complete the reputation and the rewards would be better as we could guarantee that the investment length (not actual hours mind you) is standard and then be able to justify better rewards because of it.
In any case quite a few of these quests allow you to collect the items in advance, and then maybe log in quickly every day or so to turn in if you have more timer here and there to farm for the items beforehand. These quests also don't comprise of the entirety of all quests being added.
It's a new mechanic that we think provides a huge amount of benefit for the casual player in regards to questing. With an artificial block in place we can moderate the pace of the content, and provide better rewards for less actual time played. That means players with less time don't have to deal with a faction that had to be inflated in length just so those with more time wouldn't blow through the content within a inconsequential amount of time. Less time played, standardized length of content, and the rewards we can justify the length of that content providing.
I guess it wouldn't be a change if at least one person wasn't latching on to it and trying to persuade others to think it's a bad idea as well.
In this thread, Eyonix comments on the use of Ventrilo in 5-person instances.
I never jump on any voice chat program outside of a raid. I'm with you in saying that it's just not necessary, as far as I'm concerned. Keep in mind however, that some simply use voice chat for the social aspect of playing the game, and not strategy. Simply decline the suggestion of voice chat -- it's doubtful you'll be kicked from the group as a result.
There is no need to judge the preference of others, just because it differs from your own.
Next expansion pack? what date? Go to thread
In this thread, Nethaera comments on the possible date for the next WoW expansion.
It's not a rumor that we've said we would like to release a new expansion pack every year. We definitely have a plan for things we would like to do; and there is a lot more story to be told in the World of Warcraft. What specific plans we have or what we may be working on, I can't tell you yet. Everyone will need to continue discussing what they think is being planned for awhile longer, at least until we're ready to let the murloc out of the bag. (Don't read into that folks. It just sounded better than cat out of the bag. ;) )
Keep Air Kills: A World PvP Request Go to thread
In this thread, Drysc comments on an upcoming changes that will cause player corpses to fall to the ground if they die in the air.
Bodies floating in the air isn't natural, it looks weird, and it causes players to be unable to reach their corpses which isn't something we want to turn in to a game mechanic. Corpses not falling has always been the case as players never really had the opportunity to die far off the ground. You may get a good leap and be a few feet, laying there like a magic trick gone wrong, but almost always had the ability to rez at your corpse. With flying mounts the way corpses work just doesn't mesh well, they don't fall to the ground, it looks stupid, and it forces a spirit rez which we don't want to promote.
(To clarify we have no problem with air kills currently, and shouldn't unless something appears to border on exploitation or abuse, only the floating bodies.)
I can fully understand your request to bring people out of the skies, but this simply isn't a way to do that which we could agree with. If it makes you feel better it's not likely that we'll be able to find a suitable fix and then implement it very soon. If you want to put effort or thought into a request that would achieve the same or similar outcome, I would suggest posting new thoughts or ideas that could work with the current game and intended functionality.
I do find it interesting though that for so many on PvP realms it seems that they only wish to engage an enemy when it suits them, while far fewer are actually looking for out and out warfare. Telling, says I. Telling indeed. Rogues a common class too you say? ;)
Marshfang mount, why time-restricted? Go to thread
In this thread, Drysc comments on the reason behind the Daily Quests for the new Sha'tari Skyguard reputation.
The 'one-a-day' quests and turn-ins obviously restrict the amount of times those quests can be completed, and this affords us a few things as far as the rewards we can then provide. These quests are specifically designed for those players that maybe have a few hours a day, or less, to log in and play. With that short amount of time we can guarantee them a solid reward, or solid increment toward a reward, without needing to compensate for the type of player that has a lot of time to devote to simply grinding on them. This is due to limiting the amount of times it can be completed, and thus gearing it towards a more casual playstyle.
First and foremost it allows us to provide greater reward for smaller investments of time. That means less of a "grindy" feeling for a quicker and bigger payoff.
These quests are also placed in the new solo and small-group content areas which of course are geared more towards the casual player, and with this new type of quest we can provide the casual player that is generally going to be taking advantage of them, a better reward with a time investment that is more appropriate for their playstyle.
If you're the type of player that has a lot of time, then yes this is just going to be a restriction to how quickly you can complete it. We're gearing this content towards the casual player so that they can gain items and rewards on their own terms, instead of on the terms of the player who has the most time to invest.
WHY are there still twinks in my battleground Go to thread
In this thread, Drysc explains that the Battleground Matching System - slated for 2.1 - should help alleviate some of the problems placed on new players by "twinks," in the battlegrounds.
The matching system is in for 2.1; however it picking and choosing is fairly loose to match the amount of people playing in the battlegrounds currently. There simply aren't as many people playing now, from say when the new honor system had launched, and we would rather get players into battleground matches sooner than have them wait around just to match them with the people they were probably going to be matched with anyway. We'll be continuing to tighten up or loosen how stingy the matching is as the number of players in the battlegrounds increases or decreases, respectively.
Bottom line is that with enough people in queue you're going to see some better matching, but in the lower levels where there's generally already slim pickings the chance you'll see a twink every once in a while is probably pretty good.
From Ret Paladins to WoW Developers ver. 6 Go to thread
In this thread, Kalgan responds to Retribution Paladin concerns, as well as Paladin concerns in general.
First, thank you for the suggestions. There are a lot of valid points made in the threads.
However, while I don't disagree that there aren't many highly rated ret pallies, it's worth pointing out that there also aren't many highly rated prot warriors, destro locks, balance druids, survival hunters, enhancement shamans, etc.
While trying to get each spec to be arena viable in the different formats is a noble goal, the reality is that it isn't an immediate goal for every spec to be optimized for every aspect of the game (arenas, battlegrounds, solo-ing, raiding, heroics, etc).
In the case of arenas, it seems to me that getting each class reasonably represented in highly rated teams is a more important goal, and unfortunately the paladin class happens to be somewhat grossly over-represented in this regard.
PTR 2.1 Questions and Top Concerns Go to thread
In this thread, Nethaera provides answers from developers, for the feedback given on 2.1 changes to the Priest class.
Moving Divine Spirit to Holy- Go to thread
In this thread, Nethaera comments on a question regarding the possibility of Divine Spirit being moved to the Holy tree.
It has been rephrased. We are NOT moving it. Players had expressed a desire for it to be moved but we are not moving it. We like where it is now and feel that it gives an element of choice between the trees.
[BUGS] So uh... Hunters... Go to thread
In this thread, Eyonix shares some information on the equations used to calculate a Hunter's chance to dodge attacks and score a critical strike.
Players have done a great job of discovering the underlying formula for how critical strike chance and dodge chance are calculated. Unfortunately an incorrect assumption has been made. however. It's been assumed that these chances were determined by a simple ratio. What they actually are is a linear equation (y==mx+b from introductory Algebra). In this case, the slope, or m, is 1/40 for level 70 Hunters as has been discovered. However, the part being missed is the intercept, b. The intercept is -5.45%. Every class has a different value for the intercept, and a different value at every level for the slope.
Prior to the Burning Crusade, Hunters had an intercept of 0. In order to keep that balanced so that typical level 60 Hunter didn’t have excessive amounts of critical strike chance, the slope was very very steep, at 53 points of agility per critical strike percent. That made Hunter critical strike chance improve very slowly in a way many Hunters complained about, justifiably. So we made the slope dramatically less steep. However, with a less steep slope, the typical Hunter had more critical strike chance than we intended. In order to fix that, the intercept was lowered to a number below 0.
This is not a bug, but a deliberate design decision.
The net result is that as a Hunter gains more agility, they benefit from it far more than they used to, but the base starts lower. It means you get better with your gear and buffs more easily, an overall gain to the class. Also note that every class in the Burning Crusade has a non-zero intercept. If you examine the other classes, you can calculate theirs as well.
In this thread, Ommra provides an answer to the question.
Druids will be able to cast Barkskin in Tree of Life form in 2.1.
In this thread, Shaantie lets the poster know that the bug is fixed in the next PTR build.
This trouble is Fixed on our latest test version.
On the ground, when you summon your Steed, your pet is dismissed automatically with his buffs and goodness. When you dismount or are dismounted, the same pet reappears and the buffs reapplied.
In the air, it's the same thing. The pet is dismissed when you mount and comes back when you dismount. buffs come back too. This does prevent your pet from trying desperately to follow you on the ground and agro the whole area.
