No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

In a [hide]recent post[/hide] on the forums, Bashiok responded to the idea that [hide]1.35% of all WoW players have completed normal Firelands[/hide] and what that does or does not mean for the recent changes implemented to the raid instance. It’s a very interesting and information-filled post that I think deserves a thorough examination, as it reveals elements of Blizzard’s current design philosophy and how and why it chooses to alter raids from their initial difficulty levels.

I intend to go over the entire post carefully, but here are some highlights to ponder up front:

The 1.35% number is just plain wrong. Blizzard has its own numbers that it’s not going to share, but the 1.35% is probably as accurate as could be expected without access to Blizzard’s internal data gathering.

Blizzard’s design intent is to make content for all of the playerbase. «It’s both a blessing and a curse that the WoW player base is as large and diverse as it is.»

Players raid for many different reasons, some challenge, others loot, and others just to see the content. Some players are happy if they just see a boss once, while others enjoy weekly clearing.

The idea of being willing to wipe a hundred or more times to clear a boss, a staple of the raider mentality for years, is not appealing to most players.

OK, so now that we’ve picked out a few highlights, let’s go over the entire post and really consider the implications of designing for as many players as possible.[hide]Continue reading «There are no simple solutions» — Design diversity in WoW[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Lore[/hide], [hide]Hotfixes[/hide][hide]«There are no simple solutions» — Design diversity in WoW[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

[hide]Continue reading The Queue: Cats and Dogs[/hide]Filed under: [hide]The Queue[/hide][hide]The Queue: Cats and Dogs[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for [hide]elemental[/hide], [hide]enhancement[/hide], and [hide]restoration[/hide] shaman. [hide]Josh Myers[/hide] once only tackled the hard questions about enhancement but has recently expanded his sphere of responsibility to all shaman DPS specs. (And no, two-handed enhancement is still never coming back.)

As I sit writing this, there’s a huge storm raging outside my house. Thunderstorm’s customary 45-second cooldown isn’t in effect, and there’s so much lightning flashing it’s sort of like [hide]Pikachus[/hide] are having a Pokemon battle in the sky. Oh, and there’s rain, too. Not the nice, healing kind that you like to stand in, either. I’m thinking this storm might be the response of elemental shaman everywhere to today’s latest 4.3 changes, when this gem was found on the PTR. (Please note: This isn’t reflected in Blizzard’s official patch notes yet, but the change is up on test realms.)

Yeah, that happened. We kind of had a feeling it would, since the T12 set bonus is so ridiculously good — like, it’s so good that if it were a cake or any other form of dessert, it would give you diabetes just from looking at it. My [hide]earliest estimates[/hide] of the set bonus said it was something like a 3,000 DPS increase. By BIS heroic gear, it’s more like a 6,000 DPS increase from a single set bonus. For gear balance issues, that bonus was too good. Blizzard generally intends set bonuses to be within the ballpark of 5% DPS increases. This was more like 15% to 20%.[hide]Continue reading Totem Talk: Elemental tier 12 nerfed on the PTR[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Shaman[/hide], [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]Raiding[/hide], [hide](Shaman) Totem Talk[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Totem Talk: Elemental tier 12 nerfed on the PTR[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

Every week, WoW Insider brings you [hide]Arcane Brilliance[/hide] for [hide]arcane[/hide], [hide]fire[/hide] and [hide]frost[/hide] mages. This week we come bearing information from the patch 4.3 PTR. Many warlocks died to bring you this information. Well, many warlocks died; bringing you this information had very little to do with that.

Coming soon.

Those words have mocked me for what feels like forever but in reality was only a couple weeks. When [hide]the initial patch notes[/hide] were released for the [hide]patch 4.3[/hide] PTR, other classes got changes. Other classes had new things to discuss, new topics to broach on the official forums and then engage in rational, polite discourse about. But not mages. Under our section of the patch notes, we got those two hateful words, Blizzard’s dubious trademark phrase.

Coming soon.

But no more! We can cease our waiting, our trembling, anxious vigil. For the latest build of the PTR has delivered to us a handful of discussion-worthy changes. Let’s all release our collective bated breath and move forward as a class. Because, my fellow mages: Soon, apparently, is now.[hide]Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: News and notes from the patch 4.3 PTR[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Mage[/hide], [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide](Mage) Arcane Brilliance[/hide][hide]Arcane Brilliance: News and notes from the patch 4.3 PTR[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide] | Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

Every week, [hide]Raid Rx[/hide] will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is [hide]Matt Low[/hide], the grand poohbah of [hide]World of Matticus[/hide] and a founder of [hide]Plus Heal[/hide], a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the [hide]Matticast[/hide].

We are one week away from [hide]BlizzCon[/hide]! I cannot wait! While most of the healing changes have already been outlined for 4.3, I’m sure there are a few things that you wish would be different. I have a list compiled myself of things that would be interesting to have or revert back to. However, you and I both know these are things that will never happen. But who cares? It’s fun to think about the possibilities, at least. I’m sure there’ll be other exciting announcements next week. Maybe we’ll see some new healing reveals that Blizzard’s planning for the next expansion.[hide]Continue reading Raid Rx: Raid healing wish list for BlizzCon[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Raid Rx (Raid Healing)[/hide][hide]Raid Rx: Raid healing wish list for BlizzCon[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

Опубликован рассказ Дэниэла Эри «[hide]Кровь отцов наших[/hide]» о правителе Штормграда Вариане Ринне, [hide]сообщает[/hide] официальный сайт MMORPG World of Warcraft от компании Blizzard Entertainment. В нем рассказывается о том, что во времена правления династии Риннов под их правлением люди каждый раз восставали из пепла невзгод. В то же время всем короли рода Риннов умирали молодыми, причем несправедливо и жестоко.

«Выйдя в коридор, Вариан обратил внимание, что на обычных местах не было стражей. Неужели все заняты подготовкой ко Дню памяти? Или случилось что-то страшное?

Вариан осторожно пробрался в неосвещенный коридор и вошел в просторный тронный зал Крепости Штормграда. Король знал тут все до последнего камня, но сейчас помещение с высокими стенами казалось иным — больше, темнее и совсем пустым. С потолка свешивались знамена. На каждом из ярких полотнищ была вышита золотом львиная голова — герб, выражавший гордость и силу великой нации Штормграда.

Из темноты до Вариана донесся приглушенный крик, а затем звуки ударов. Он опустил взгляд и увидел кровавый след, тянущийся к центру зала. Там он едва мог различить две фигуры, яростно бившихся друг с другом. Глаза Вариана привыкли к темноте, и он разглядел израненного, окровавленного мужчину на коленях, над которым возвышался массивный женский силуэт».

([hide]Читать далее..[/hide].)

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

Every week, WoW Insider brings you [hide]The Light and How to Swing It[/hide] for [hide]holy[/hide], [hide]protection[/hide] and [hide]retribution[/hide] paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a Blood Elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog [hide]Righteous Defense[/hide].

Last week, I touched on how to [hide]evaluate your tanking performance via logs[/hide]. One of the major points of that column was to check out your efficiency with [hide]Crusader Strike[/hide], also known as the heartbeat of the protection paladin rotation. One of the best ways to improve yourself in that aspect of tanking (along with a host of other aspects) is through the generous use of keybinding.

It’s an age-old debate — clickers vs. keybinders — but in the end, keybinding is probably the most momentous step you can take to bring your A-game to a boss fight. Adopting this tecnique will pay major dividends to your rotational efficiency, survivability, and response times.[hide]Continue reading The Light and How to Swing It: Keybinding to streamline your tanking[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Paladin[/hide], [hide](Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It[/hide][hide]The Light and How to Swing It: Keybinding to streamline your tanking[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

This is an interesting wrinkle to testing I noticed as I zoned into the [hide]Well of Eternity[/hide] today. Apparently for purposes of actually testing the dungeons at the minimum level of gear that players will be expected to have in order to even get in, the [hide]Patch 4.3[/hide] PTR is [hide]throttling players iLevels to 353[/hide]. Now, I couldn’t see any difference when I inspected my actual gear, so I don’t know how this is expected to work, if it’s a flat reduction in our damage and/or healing or if the gear will only provide the stats it would if it was 353, what that does to reforging, etc etc.

Still, it’s an interesting step towards testing the encounters instead of having overgeared players simply blowing everything up. As soon as I can get a few runs under my belt, I’ll let you know how it works out.

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with [hide]patch 4.3[/hide]. Review the [hide]official patch notes[/hide], and then dig into what’s ahead: new [hide]item storage options[/hide], [hide]cross-realm raiding[/hide], [hide]cosmetic armor skinning[/hide] and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing — from [hide]astride his back[/hide]!
Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Patch 4.3 PTR: Modified item level buff in Hour of Twilight dungeons[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

[hide]Ready Check[/hide] helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won’t drop.

As we all sit by our computers, patiently awaiting for some news about the oncoming patch wherein we get to finally kill that blazing dragon that has been a bane upon all my alts for the entire expansion, it can be difficult sometimes to find things to do. Sure, there’s still a raid that not everyone has completed on heroic difficulty — in fact, [hide]most people haven’t[/hide] — yet what statistics we have access to shows that not every raid group has any interest in heroic raids. Some raid groups just want to clear out normal and be done with it. With only seven bosses to tackle, clearing our Firelands certainly isn’t an all-week affair.

What to do then when the current raiding content is cleared? The number of bosses in Firelands isn’t really a major concern; even with nearly double that in the first raiding tier of this expansions, several raiding groups would clear out everything available well before weekly resets. Keeping your raiders engaged in content while not overwhelming them is just as much the job of the raid leader as it is Blizzard’s. There is a lot of content out in the world of Azeroth — years worth, in fact. It’s up to you to exploit it all.[hide]Continue reading Ready Check: What to do when there’s no raiding left[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Raiding[/hide], [hide]Ready Check (Raiding)[/hide][hide]Ready Check: What to do when there’s no raiding left[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

No comments Posted in Без рубрики | 01.05.2013 

If you’ve been waiting for the [hide]Well of Eternity 5 man heroic dungeon[/hide] to open on the [hide]patch 4.3[/hide] PTR, wait no more. It’s now available from the LFD tool and you can zone into it successfully. The screenshot above is of Peroth’arn, the first boss in the instance, bossing around various minions including a Highborne using a blood elf model for some reason.

If you’ve been itching to sink your teeth into some serious lore, there’s no time to lose! Hop on the PTR and get to testing as fast as you can.

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with [hide]patch 4.3[/hide]. Review the [hide]official patch notes[/hide], and then dig into what’s ahead: new [hide]item storage options[/hide], [hide]cross-realm raiding[/hide], [hide]cosmetic armor skinning[/hide] and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing — from [hide]astride his back[/hide]!
Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Lore[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Patch 4.3 PTR: Well of Eternity heroic dungeon available for testing[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:36:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]