RSS Arena Rating Changes, Algalon Loot, Blue Posts

Arena Rating System & Requirement Changes <div class="blizzquotewrap"><div class="blizzquoteinner"><div class="blizzquoteheader">Quote from: Crygil (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/11/16904263617-arena-rating-system--requirement-changes.html" target="_blank" style="color: white;">Source</a>)</div><div class="blizzquote">The current arena rating system allows more players to have higher ratings in the 2v2 bracket when compared to 3v3 and 5v5. We are preparing an in-game update that will be improving the rating system of the 3v3 and 5v5 brackets to allow all three of the brackets to have a similar number of players able to achieve ratings on par with what’s currently possible in our 2v2 arena bracket. As a result, we are changing the personal and team rating requirements for the item level 239 weapons from 2200 to 2350, but keep in mind the tooltip will continue to show the requirement as 2200 until patch 3.1.2. As a result of the above improvements, this change will prevent an excessive number of players from reaching much higher ratings and acquiring the highest grade of weapons in-game. The increase in rating requirements is designed to keep the number of players able to obtain these arena weapons on par with the number of players who are able to obtain the same grade of weapons from Heroic Ulduar. When Arena Season 7 launches we plan to return the highest rated season 7 weapons back to 2200 while also ensuring that the difficulty in achieving that rating is closer to what is intended, yet of similar difficulty for all brackets (rather than being easier for 2v2). </div></div></div> Algalon Loot Table Now Partially Shared with Other Bosses I already mentionned it yesterday and this is now official, bosses have been hotfixed and now drop Algalon weapons in hard modes. The new loot discovered in the past few days is: <ul style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><li><a href="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/may/constellus.jpg" target="_blank">Constellus</a> (1H-Mace - Spell MP5) dropped from Hodir in Hard Mode.</li><li><a href="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/may/fangofoblivion.jpg" target="_blank">Fang of Oblivion</a> (1H Dagger - Phys.DPS) dropped from the Iron Council in Hard Mode.</li><li>(New) <a href="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/may/dreambinder.jpg" target="_blank">Dreambinder</a> (Staff - Phys.DPS) dropped from Freya in Hard Mode.</li><li>(New) <a href="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/may/skyforgecrossbow.jpg" target="_blank">Skyforge Crossbow</a> (Crossbow - Phys.DPS) dropped from Thorim in Hard Mode</li></ul> <a href="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2009/april/starshardedge.jpg" target="_blank">Starshard Edge</a> (Dagger - Spell) and <a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/i/n/09/03/9722/loot_9722_92.jpg" target="_blank">Legplates of the Endless Void</a> are also part of the Algalon loot table but were datamined on PTR and on the official Armory and might drop from Algalon only. (Until someone proves me wrong) <div class="blizzquotewrap"><div class="blizzquoteinner"><div class="blizzquoteheader">Quote from: Valnoth (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/12/16904290772-concerning-starshard-edge.html" target="_blank" style="color: white;">Source</a>)</div><div class="blizzquote">We made a hotfix yesterday to several hard mode loot tables in order to spread around Algalon's weapon drops to make the items more accessible. Algalon still has loot that is unique to him, but the acquisition of the weapons in Ulduar won't be so soul crushingly difficult and ultimately unfair to certain class/builds. So it turns out that we don't hate you. Casuals win again : ( </div></div></div> Blue posts <div class="blizzquotewrap"><div class="blizzquoteinner"><div class="blizzquoteheader">Quote from Blizzard staff</div><div class="blizzquote">Hotfixing the game In both game design and software development, simple changes are usually superior. Complicated changes require more testing, can introduce more bugs, and can have unintended consequences that often aren't seen for months down the road. The simplicity of a change can't trump all other considerations, but it often figures prominently. In my experience, "band aid" gets thrown around as a pejorative term when a player had a pet idea of how they thought something should work and is disappointed when we don't implement that solution. These are often, but not always, the same folks who argue that X needs to be totally redesigned or "Blizzard doesn't know what it wants to do with my class." I think sometimes players might also mistakenly conclude from a simple fix that we didn't spend much time exploring the problem or that their problems aren't worth us taking much time out of our busy day. Simple changes that are potentially confusing or clearly temporary are not ideal. (I'll use the Exorcism change as an example here with hopes of not derailing the thread.). But at the same time, they do allow us to make a change quickly without having a problem drag on. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/16903573154-shhblizzard-bandaids-cause-its-easier.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Player vs. Player Classes representation in Arenas We will continue to work to make sure classes and specs are not too dominant nor too weak in Arena matches. I don't want to turn this thread into a "your class is OP", "no u" rugby scrum. Hunters are something we are paying close attention to. I don't think it's intuitively obvious if any specific nerfs went too far, or just whether the Arena environment is different now than it was last season. Changing one class often has effects on all the others. It's not as simple as just buffing one or nerfing one because those changes will likely cause another class or comp to rise or fall. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/16904204830-simple-questions-regarding-balance-direction.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Blizzcon Blizzcon In-Game item and Goodies Bag We will likely talk about a goodie bag in-game item in the future (though there are no guarantees of course), but based on the past we don't do this until after the ticket sales and we are much closer to the con happening. Tickets first. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/25/16904263099-ingame-item.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Blizzard Store waiting lines Honestly we have made improvements on this every year based on the previous year, but it always ends up not quite where we want. If I remember the first BlizzCon right some people were in line for like half the day, so 3-4 hours is technically an improvement - but yeah, we want it to run smoother too so we'll keep working on it. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/25/16904262998-blues--four-halls-four-blizzard-stores.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Classes Val'anyr proc and RNG On the issue of the proc being RNG, yes you are correct. RNG is part of the game. You sometimes get a big crit on a heal when you most need it and sometimes you waste those crits. We are not terribly sympathetic to the argument that healing has to be 100% predictable and dependable to be useful. We understand some players would prefer a game with even less emphasis on random elements, but we think random chance (within reason) adds excitement and interest to WoW. Non-heals, such as Power Word: Shield, don't contribute to either proc. That is just the way the item is set up. If you are a Disc priest who ends up with Val'anyr, I would suggest trying to maximize your actual heals when the bubble is up. We are going to make the heal provided by the glyph of PW:S able to cause the procs, though typically items that heal will not cause the procs. As a few players have pointed out, Thunderfury looked like a pretty mild tanking weapon if you didn't see the proc in action. Like that weapon, you should want Val'anyr for the proc, not the stats. We aren't at all worried that healers capable of acquiring this legendary are going to find it lackluster. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/27/16137530621-explain-valanyr-please.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) Race-specific skills for classes At one point in time priests had some different spells based upon their race. What we found is that it's very difficult to keep the balance in that situation and we tended to get a large number of Dwarven priests on the Alliance side, while getting a decent mix on the Horde side, but slightly favoring Undead. While race is meant to be unique, it's not your class and we don't want it to be a major deciding factor in what race you choose for any given class. So, I wouldn't really look for us to head back to that style of class/race synergy. (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/1/16904295045-race--class-differences.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) <img src="http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/icons/idruids.gif" alt="" border="0" /> Druid (<a href="http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?page=700" target="_blank">3.1 Skills List</a> / <a href="http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?druid" target="_blank">3.1 Talent + Glyph Calc.</a>) Furor doesn't increase mana The issue you describe with Furor isn't a bug. It increases your mana pool not your current mana. We don't want you to be able to shift to gain mana. Heart of the Wild did have this problem for awhile. We fixed that case by just having it increase mana period and not just in certain forms. Unlike Heart of the Wild, Furor is available to (and often a staple of) many druids. It would just be a buff to Resto and Feral druids. It does mean that Furor doesn't really benefit shifting in and out of Moonkin form (say in PvP). For a druid that stays in Moonkin most of the time, it's still a good talent.  (<a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/16904073486-moonkin--typhoon-mana-cost--furor-manabug.html" target="_blank">Source</a>) [img]http://static.mmo-...</div></div></div>

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