Patch 5.4.2 - Raid Browser
Just a quick update to yesterday's post about the Raid Browser. It seems like it isn't completely cross-realm, but instead cross realm for each datacenter (in the US), with the Phoenix and Los Angeles datacenters being combined. You can see which of the three groups you are in on this WoWPedia page.
People also appear to be having trouble finding the Raid Browser. There are four ways to find it, one is the "Other Raids" button on the Raid panel, you can also type "/rb", you can also assign a key bind in the key bind settings, or you can use the button on the PvE finder frame that is added by the LFRAdvanced addon.
Raid Browser - Warlords of Draenor
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The new Group Finder tool in WoD (6.0) will completely replace the Raid Browser, and you will also be able to find it in a much more noticeable location.
We’re focusing our efforts in polishing the Group Finder in order to make it as good as it can be, maximizing its potential from the very start.
This is something we’ve learnt from the past, if the tool isn’t good enough from the very start or it’s not very accessible, it might lose its momentum, and once that happens it’s very hard to “jumpstart” it again.
It’s a tool that depends on player numbers for its own success, we want you to see other players using it every time you go there, and the risk is if you don’t, you might never go there again, and eventually that behaviour tends to spread out.
We also don’t have any plans to change the current Raid Browser until it gets replaced by the new tool.
The Group Finder will be a big improvement both in terms of functionality and visibility; we definitely want players to know where to find the tool in very intuitive manner, and hopefully trade chat spam will become a thing of the past. (at least in it comes to forming groups…)
Heroic Dungeon Difficulty in Warlords of Draenor
You can take part in some ongoing discussion on our forums in this thread.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I’d like to start out by saying that we’re completely aware of the demand from the community for dungeons at a very high difficulty level.
As you know, WoD will (re)introduce the normal and heroic difficulties for 5man's at max level, which is already a very nice change in my opinion.
There are players who have been playing WoW for a very long time, they’re extremely skilled and will only be satisfied with the highest level of difficulty that we throw at them, that’s “perfect entertainment” for this type of players.
We also know that not everyone can raid in very high difficulty environments due to its big time commitment. Sometimes life changes, and suddenly instead of 3-4 hours every 2 days, some of these players will only have 1 or 2 hours, and that makes shorter/smaller instances with the same difficulty level as “mythic” an extremely appealing concept.
Challenge modes will probably be interesting for some of these players, but we also know that when people talk about TBC heroic 5man difficulty levels, they’re not talking about mindless zerg/rush timed runs. They’re talking about planning, strategy, CC, improvisation, randomness and sheer insane mobs/bosses power, but the “timed” part is still an important concept in game design to keep everyone on their toes.
We know all that, and we’re doing our very best to provide the most diverse content we can for the next expansion.
Your feedback can change a lot of things, just keep providing it and we’ll be sure to recognize your needs, devs are very interested in high quality feedback, and it can go a long way in changing some priorities during the development of WoD.
Having said that, the current planned difficulty scheme for 5mans at max level is Normal, Heroic and Challenge mode. Right off the bat, we can clearly say that WoD heroics will be much harder than MoP heroics.
Now, we’re not actually planning in making them as hard as the hardest heroics of all time, like the hardest from TBC, or GB and Stonecore from Cata, but nothing is set in stone yet, we’re still thinking about what will be the right difficulty level for anything WoD, and your continued feedback will definitely help us find that elusive sweet spot for a perfect tiered difficulty system.
We also think that we can rework a little bit the whole concept of challenge modes, right now people tend to think about them as purely timed runs, but they can be so much more than that.
I mean, the “timed part” doesn’t necessarily have to imply disregard for control and strategy; hopefully, we’ll be able to make challenge modes much more compelling to the highest skilled players out there, especially those that can’t raid but want to experience equivalent difficulty content to mythic raids in a 5man environment.
If you have any particular views on the subject, I’d love to hear what would be the “perfect challenge mode” for you, specifically in regards to reward structure and gameplay philosophy concepts.
I'm sorry but Cata heroics weren't really hard for organized groups.
You’re right, they weren't as hard as let's say, Shattered Halls HC. Our current goal is to make WoD heroics similar to the difficulty level you had in Vortex Pinnacle heroic for example.
To be honest, I loved Stonecore, it was fun trying to make a clean run where no one would do any mistakes, it wasn’t super hard, but I’d say most bosses had very unforgiving mechanics. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course, but bosses like Ozruk for example, need to have better visual cues when they have one-shot mechanics.
Good design needs to be more intuitive, it’s not really that fun to read through the full dungeon journal and memorize everything before fighting any boss, it’s much cooler when something is so well implemented that even if it’s completely unexpected you can still try to “guess” what it does and adapt, react to it on-the-spot, just like you would do with anything unexpected that happens in real life.
before or after the nerf to heroics?
Pre-nerf
Patch 5.4.2 Hotfixes: December 11
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Classes
- Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
- General
- Deterrence modified by the talent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera should now correctly provide immunity to physical interrupt effects.
- Revive Pet now has a casting time of 2 seconds (down from 4 seconds).
- Talents
- Resolved an issue where Battle Pets were incorrectly receiving the Spirit Bond talent.
- General
Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios
- Siege of Orgrimmar
- Paragons of the Klaxxi
- Hisek the Swarmkeeper will no longer hit players with Fire if the channel effect of Aim is broken.
- Korven the Prime will now always apply Vicious Assault's bleed effect to the target of his Shield Bash, and will pull the tank towards them during Vicious Assault if they're over 12 yards away.
- Skeer the Bloodseeker will now only pull the tank towards them if they're over 13 yards away (up from 12 yards away).
- Paragons of the Klaxxi
- Throne of Thunder
- Durumu the Forgotten
- Resolved an issue where a cone of light would not target another player if the targeted Holy Priest dies with Spirit of Redemption.
- Durumu the Forgotten
Battlegrounds and Arenas
- Arenas
- Arena matches should correctly have a maximum duration of 20 minutes again.
- Hunter aspects and Trap Launcher effect should no longer be removed at the start of an arena match.
- Mage armor buffs should no longer be removed at the start of an arena match.
- Paladin seals should no longer be removed at the start of an arena match.
- Priest's Inner Fire, and Inner Will should no longer be removed at the start of an arena match.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We will be connecting the realms listed below on Monday, December 16th during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 6 a.m. PST through approximately 11:00 a.m. PST. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.
- Andorhal and Scilla/Ursin
- Crushridge and Anub'arak/Chromaggus/Garithos/Nathrezim/Smolderthorn
- Icecrown and Malygos
- Quel'dorei and Sen'jin
We will be connecting the realms listed below on Monday, December 23rd during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 6 a.m. PST through approximately 11:00 a.m. PST. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.
- Anetheron and Magtherdion/Ysondre
- Darrowmere and Windrunner
- Demonsoul and Coilfang, Dark Iron, and Dalvengyr
- Draka and Suramar
- Velen and Eonar
We will be connecting the realms listed below on Friday, January 3rd during a scheduled maintenance beginning at 6 a.m. PST through approximately 11:00 a.m. PST. Once maintenance is finished, these realm connections will be complete.
- Akama and Dragonmaw
- Executus and Kalecgos
- Galakrond and Blackhand
- Shandris and Bronzebeard
- The Forgotten Coast and Balnazzar, Gorgonash and Warsong
- Undermine and Anvilmar
Please note that as a part of the connection process realm times may change to match each other. Plans for these connections may change at any time, but we’ll provide additional updates on specific dates for future connections as we can. *Please note this list does not encompass all potential future connections. Please check back for further updates.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Hey all, now that patch 5.4.2 is live we will be continuing with our realm connections, beginning next week. Below you will find the latest realms we hope to connect:
English Realms
- (PvP) Aggra (Portuguese) and Grim Batol (English)
- (PvP) Lightning’s Blade and Karazhan
French Realms
- (PvP) Arathi and Naxxramas/Temple Noir
- (PvP) Ner’zhul and Garona
Spanish Realms
- (PvE) Minahonda and Exodar
German Realms
- (RP PvP) Das Syndikat and Die Arguswacht
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The following Free Character Migrations are scheduled to be available until December 17, 2013:
Horde
Draenor (PvE) -> Killrogg/Runetotem (PvE)
Draenor (PvE) -> Wildhammer/Thunderhorn (PvE)
Stormscale (PvP) -> Shattered Halls/Talnivarr/Chromaggus/Boulderfist/Daggerspine (PvP)
Twisting Nether (PvP) -> Ravencrest (PvP)
Twisting Nether (PvP) -> Frostmane (PvP)
Kazzak (PvP) -> Ravencrest (PvP)
Kazzak (PvP) -> Frostmane (PvP)
Ragnaros (PvP) -> Shattered Halls/Talnivarr/Chromaggus/Boulderfist/Daggerspine (PvP)
Alliance
Sylvanas (PvP) -> Ravencrest (PvP)
Sylvanas (PvP) -> Frostmane (PvP)
Outland (PvP) -> Shattered Halls/Talnivarr/Chromaggus/Boulderfist/Daggerspine (PvP)
Silvermoon (PvE) -> Killrogg/Runetotem (PvE)
Silvermoon (PvE) -> Wildhammer/Thunderhorn (PvE)
Please note: FCMs are opened based on realm population tracking and analysis, not by request. If you’re looking for a specific migration (from realm A to realm B), you should in most cases use the Character Transfer service.
Character Transfers (CT)
All realms follow the regular CT rules, found here:
http://eu.blizzard.com/support/artic...rticleId=20416
Guild Transfer: Although Free Guild Master Realm Transfers are not possible at this time, the Free Character Migration will allow you to retain your guild membership and reputation, provided that the guild master completes a Guild Master Realm Transfer first and the faction remains the same as that of the source realm.
Please note that the FCM service can be closed at any point in time.
Dismiss Pet Changes
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
As a followup: we've got a hotfix in the works to lower Revive Pet's casting time to 2 seconds. Our goal was to remove the awkward gameplay of dismissing/swapping pets to bypass cooldowns and debuffs, not to make it harder for Hunters to have a pet active. With Revive at 2 seconds, you should have a much easier time getting your pet back on its feet.
We're also investigating the reports of Revive Pet being interruptible through Deterrence.
Hearthstone had their first patch in some time this week, with some nice changes, like being able to abandon a daily quest, the new ranking system, and some amusing new cards.
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