fbpx
Menu Close

Category: Warcraft

Explanation On Website Issues, WoW 10 Year Anniversary Events, News Roundup

Explanation On Website Issues

Hi there everyone! As you’ll probably have noticed the website has had a lot of troubles for the past 5 days. We put out an explanation a few days ago but during site maintenance with backing up and restoring the website it got lost. So here’s what’s been going on.. Since the start of the launch of Warlords we’ve gotten a lot more (awesome!) traffic. This huge influx exposed a memory issue within our hardware and software, around Monday the website would barely get back up from crashing. The first thing we did was upgrade our hardware to see if that was the issue. Which worked for about half a day and then the memory filled up again too. Since then we’ve been working nonstop to find the actual cause.

This morning around 4am we believed to have found, not one but two software side issues that were causing the problems. It’s been roughly 8 hours since the fixes were implemented and everything is looking quite stable. So we feel relatively safe to say that the website is now fully back up and running. We’d like to give a special thanks to the server specialist who has helped us out to find and fix the problems. Of course we’d also like to thank you, the reader, for being patient with us. We certainly hope you’ll keep coming back and enjoy the content we put out!

WoW 10 Year Anniversary Events

Tommorow there will be 3 10 year anniversary events across Europe!

Quote from: Blizzard
Blizzard is marking the 10-year anniversary of World of Warcraft’s launch with awesome events in three major cities across Europe. If you can make it to central Paris, London, or Berlin on November 22 you’ll have the chance to attend and be part of the celebration. You’ll be able to mix with fellow players, well-known fan sites, and Blizzard staff, take part in fun activities including WoW dance and costume contests, win cool prizes, have unique photo opportunities to show your WoW pride, and much more… Of course, there will also be drinks and birthday cake!Each venue has strict capacity limits so it’ll be first-come, first-served. If we don’t have enough room for everyone who wants to enter, we’ll do our best to reward your WoW passion even if you can’t get in.

We’ll update this blog post in the coming days with final details of event timing and locations, and there’ll be dedicated forum threads to answer your questions. For now, gather your guild-mates, get your WoW costume ready, practice your dance moves, polish your party axe, and mark November 22 on your calendar!

Update: We’re ready to share more information on the World of Warcraft 10th anniversary community gatherings in London, Berlin, and Paris on Saturday November 22!

You’ll find a complete FAQ in this forum thread. The most important thing you need to know is that in order to attend, you will need to register for a free ticket. These tickets are limited in number and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The priority tickets will be available from 14:00 CET (13:00 GMT) on Monday November 17. We’ll tell you the URL of the ticket page via the World of Warcraft Facebook page and Twitter at this time.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Quote from: Blizzard
Here’s an FAQ for the 10th Anniversary Event in London on 22 November.

Is the event free to attend?
Yes! However, to attend you’ll need to have successfully registered for a ticket – see below.

What is the location?
London:
The Banking Hall
14 Cornhill
EC3V 3ND

What time does the event start and finish?
Here’s a simplified timeline for the London event. All times are local.

18:00 – you can start queuing
20:00 – doors open for priority ticket holders
21:00 – event starts
00:30 – event ends

Are there any age limits for attendees?
If you’re under 16 you will need to be accompanied by a legal guardian who will also need a ticket. People under 12 years old are not permitted to attend. Whatever age you are, please remember to bring photo ID so we can double-check that you registered for the event.

Why is a registration system being used?
Our venues have limited capacity and we’re using a ticket registration system so that you have a better idea of whether you’ll be able to get in. All tickets to the anniversary events are free. If you’re sure you want to attend, keep reading.

How does registration work?
When registration opens at 13:00 UK time on Monday November 17, go to the website (link will be provided through the WoW social media channels and the dedicated forum thread in General) and enter your name and email address. Make sure you are on the correct page for the event (London, Paris, Berlin) you want to attend. You can choose one or two tickets (if available).

      1. Getting a “priority registration” ticket ensures you will be able enter the venue, provided you arrive in time (see below) and bring your ticket (printed or on your phone).* If you get one of these tickets you can begin queuing in the priority queue from 18:00.
    2. If all the priority registration tickets are taken, we will open “stand-by registration” at a later date. We’ll tell you when this second round of tickets will go live via the World of Warcraft social media channels. People with a stand-by ticket will be able to enter the venue if those with priority registration don’t show up by 20:30. For every priority registration guest who doesn’t show up, we’ll let in one stand-by guest. If you get a stand-by ticket, there is a chance you will be able to get in, and a chance to win prizes even if you don’t. There will be a dedicated queue for the stand-by list and it will be first-come-first-served. You can start queuing in the stand-by queue if you are on the stand-by list from 18:00.

If you have either ticket type and you come to the venue in a World of Warcraft themed costume, you may be invited to come to the front of the queue corresponding to your ticket type. This will be decided by a member of the World of Warcraft Europe Community team, and they’ll be judging your costume on the effort you’ve put in and how much passion you’re showing for World of Warcraft (also, see notes on costumes below). Please note that we’ll be picking out individuals, or groups who are all in costume. If you are in a cool costume and your friend is not, we may not be able to bring your friend to the front of the queue as well, to be fair to other attendees.

When you arrive at the venue, please be sure to join the correct queue. If you have stand-by registration and you join the priority queue by mistake, you will have to join the back of the stand-by queue when you get to the door.

Why is there stand-by ticket registration?
In case someone with a priority ticket holder does not show up to the venue, we want to make sure that as many players as possible get the chance to share the celebration.

The page shows no tickets available now. Can I still attend?
If there are no priority or stand-by tickets left, that means our event is ‘sold out’ and there’s very little chance that you will be able to join the event if you show up at the venue.

Can I give my ticket to someone else?
No, every ticket is linked to a name, so it cannot be transferred.

How does it work if I buy two tickets?
Make sure you arrive at the venue together and queue with the other person! Your friend will only be able to enter the venue at the same time as you.

I got a ticket but now I can’t attend. Can I cancel my ticket?
Yes, you can cancel your ticket through the event page where you got it. We’ll make another ticket available for someone else.

When will priority registration open?
13:00 UK time on Monday November 17.

What should I bring with me?
There are two things you really need to bring. Firstly, photo ID, so you can prove you’re the valid ticket holder. Secondly, you must also bring your ticket – either printed or a digital version on your phone.

What kind of photo ID is acceptable for proof of identity and age?
Government-issued ID with a photo: such as passport, driving license with photo, student card, etc.

When can I start queuing?
If you have a priority ticket, be sure to arrive at the venue between 18:00 and 20:00. If you arrive after 20:30, your spot at the event will be allocated to someone on the stand-by list. These spots will go to people in the stand-by queue in the order which they arrived and started queuing (see the exception relating to costumes above). If you have a stand-by ticket, you can also start queuing at the venue from 18:00. As the venues have neighbouring businesses, queuing before 18:00 is not permitted.

What happens if the event is full by the time I get to the front of the stand-by queue?
Unfortunately, we can’t be sure that we’ll have room for everyone who wants to get in. We’ll do our very best to keep everyone updated whether you’re close enough to the front to get in.

Are there any restrictions on costumes?
Yes. The venues for our events can’t accommodate very large or elaborate costumes. No sharp edges, enormous wings, wheels, pets, mounts, etc.
– Your safety is a priority, so we want to make sure that people in costumes can safely navigate the venue. That means costumes can be no wider than 90cm across and no taller than 200cm. You’ll also need to be able to easily manoeuvre your costume over stairs or ramps unassisted.
– No weapons – or articles that could be construed as real weapons – are allowed. As usual, costume “weapon props” are acceptable, and construction will be limited to costuming materials such as foam or soft plastic. Wooden staves that are not shod with metal are OK.
– No liquids, gels, or other substances which could cause a mess or a safety hazard are allowed.

Are there dressing rooms for cosplayers?
Sorry, the venue does not have dedicated facilities for cosplayers.

Are there cloakroom facilities?
Yes, the venue has cloakroom facilities, but this is limited to coats and small bags.

Is the venue wheelchair-friendly?
Yes. If you need assistance please contact the security staff.

Who will be there from Blizzard?
We’ll have several members of the Blizzard Europe Community team at each event. We’re looking forward to meeting you and talking about WoW!

Can I bring my own food and/or drinks to the party?
You won’t be permitted to bring food, drinks, potions etc. with you into the venue. There will be free soft drinks.

Can I take photos and video?
Absolutely! We want to show the world how much Blizzard and the World of Warcraft community loves the game, so take photos and videos and share them as much as you like. We’ll have cool ways for you to get unique photos at the event too. If you use the hashtag #10yearsofWoW then we’ll be able to gather all the excitement together in the days afterwards. Please note that we will also be taking photos/video to promote the event.

Will there be sweet, sweet loot?
Oh yes indeed. There’ll be prizes to win during quizzes and other competitions. If you’re in the stand-by queue and don’t get the chance to come in, we also plan to hold quizzes outside in the build-up, so everyone will have a chance to win something.

Will I be able to buy goodies, games, or other Blizzard loot?
Sorry, we won’t have the facilities to sell any Blizzard gear at these events.

How can I enter the dance/costume contest?
You don’t need to sign up before the event for either contest. If you’re wearing a cool costume and want to take part in the contest, just make sure you’re paying attention to the host and be ready to show off your creation! We’re aiming to hold the costume contest around 22:00, so make sure you’re ready and near the stage before then. We plan to hold the dance contest at 23:00. Just be ready and near the stage, and make sure you’ve practiced! Of course, there will be cool prizes for winners and all participants. If you have a ticket and you know that you’re going attend in a costume, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us on [email protected]

What are the rules/criteria for the costume contest?
Your creation will be judged on various criteria, including:
– Faithfulness to the corresponding character, creature etc. in World of Warcraft;
– Effort put into its creation and passion shown for World of Warcraft;
– Overall quality and impression of the finished costume.

The judges’ decision will be final.

What are the rules/criteria for the dance contest?
See “How can I enter…” above. You will have 30 seconds to demonstrate your World of Warcraft dance; we’ll play the appropriate music but can’t guarantee you’ll be able to see video of the WoW character dancing to remind you of the moves, so be sure you get lots of practice before the event. The judges’ decision will be final.

* Blizzard reserves the right to refuse entry to its events for safety reasons.

News Roundup

A lot has happend since the launch and our website downtime, here’s an overview of all the news!
How do Follower and Garrison Mission Experience Work?
Hotfixes for November 17th – 19th
5 Free days of game time for those playing during the WoD launch
Warlords of Draenor – How New Character Models Get Made
How Raid Lockout Systems Work
Garrison Invasions and You
World of Warcraft Surpasses 10 million subscribers!
Warlords of Draenor: Journey into Highmaul
Warlords Season 1 Conquest Gear Fixes
Upcoming Dungeon Changes and Hotfixes

Heroic Skyreach Dungeon Guide

Skyreach Map
With the initial leveling experience in Warlords done, today we’ll take a look at the heroic Skyreach dungeon. This is the first dungeon you will have to do for the legendary quest. Check below the break for the guide in text.

Website Responsiveness, 6.0.3 Hotfixes: November 15

We’ve received word that multiple people are having trouble with the website loading. This is because of a mass influx of traffic, which is great and we welcome those that are coming to WoW Weekly for the first time! We certainly hope you’ll come back, we’re working on getting the responsiveness back to where it should be!

In the meantime here’s today’s hotfixes:

Quote from: Blizzard
6.0.3 Hotfixes: November 15

Here you’ll find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the recently released World of Warcraft patch 6.0.3. Hotfixes are updates we make on our end without requiring you to download a new patch. Some of the hotfixes below take effect the moment they were implemented, while others may require your realm to be restarted to go into effect. Please keep in mind that some issues cannot be addressed without a client- side patch update. We will continue to update this list as additional hotfixes are applied.

Hotfixes have been listed by the date they’ve been implemented. The hotfixes have also been compiled by category for those wanting a quick summary of all hotfixes that have been applied since Patch 6.0.3.

Patch 6.0.x Information

November 15

Garrisons, Followers, and Outposts

  • Lunar Fall Inn/Frostwall Tavern: Improved the rewards for completing Budd’s Gambit, Go Fetch, Ogre Ancestry, and Sky Dancers.
  • Stables Level 2: Resolved an issue where characters were not remaining mounted while interacting with herb nodes.
  • Trading Post Level 2: Multiple items for Auctioning for Parts should no longer be dropping at the same time.

Quests

  • A Collection of Coils: Increased the drop rates for Coil of Sturdy Rope.
  • A Feast of Shadows: Increased the spawn rate for Face-Stealers.
  • Bonus Objective: The Howling Crag: Increased the number and rate of Rylak Egg spawns.
  • Core of Iron: Core of Iron should now only be found on Heroic difficulty Grimrail Depot.
  • Icespine Stinger: Increased the number of Icespine Stinger spawns.
  • In Need Of A Hero: Completion credit for the quest is no longer shared amongst party members. This was causing other party members to be placed into an incorrect phase.
  • Legacy of the Apexis: Increased the drop rates for Apexis Core.
  • Ogre Diplomacy: Increased the spawn rate for Ango’rosh ogres.
  • Strike While the Iron Is Hot: Resolved a situation where the Activate Primal Device button doesn’t go away after completing the quest.
  • The Battle of Thunder Pass: Players joining a party that have already completed the quest should now be able to complete the quest and should no longer get stuck in an incorrect phase.
  • The Eldest: Players joining a party that have already completed the quest should now be able to complete the quest and should no longer get stuck in an incorrect phase.
  • The Master Siegesmith: Master Siegesmith Uratok now scales his health based on the number of players engaging him.
  • The Traitor’s True Name: Resolved an issue that could cause players to be unable to complete the quest.
  • Wanted: Maa’run’s Hoof should no longer incorrectly reward the exact same rings as Engorged Goren.

Creatures and NPCs

  • Increased the spawn rates for creatures in the Shivering Trench area in Frostfire Ridge.
  • Felwrought Annihilator is now immune to the Warlock’s Enslave Demon ability.
  • Mandragora now spawns more frequently and can be tapped by multiple players.
  • Mor the Dominator can now be tapped by multiple players.
  • Xanatos the Defiler will never be a slave and is now immune to the Warlock’s Enslave Demon ability.
  • Resolved an issue where Thaelin Darkanvil may not be visible as a quest giver to players that have rescued him.
  • Resolved an issue where Warriors using Charge against some Grimfrost Lavaslingers could become stuck in the world geometry.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

  • Dungeons
    • Increased the frequency of loot awards for Normal difficulty Auchindoun, Bloodmaul Slag Mines, Iron Docks, and Skyreach.
    • Heroic Dungeons should correctly have a daily lockout once more.
    • Auchindoun: Players should now be able to take a Soul Transporter to get back to Teron’gor if the entire party died after defeating him.

PvP

  • Coliseum Champion’s Spoils and Gleaming Ashmaul Strongboxes should no longer incorrectly have a chance to contain Epic quality PvP weapons.
  • Bonus Objective: Kill Warspear Priests no longer awards a Gleaming Ashmaul Strongbox.

Professions

  • Characters with over 600 skill should no longer continue to find catch-up items for the respective profession.

Items

  • Excavated Highmaul Thingamabob, Fungus-Infected Hydra Lung, Pulsating Brain of No’losh, and Thornmother Eye can now trigger its effect from non-healing spells as well.
  • Resolved an issue causing the Mists of Pandaria Legendary Cloaks and Metagems to remain effective for level 100 characters.

Warlords Launch Update – Friday 4 p.m., Maintenance Times 15 November

6.0.3 Hotfixes: November 13

Another maintenance patch will be deployed this upcoming night.

Quote from: Blizzard
Thank you again to everyone for your patience while we continue to work around the clock to address performance issues.Last night we scheduled maintenance for Europe to implement server changes to help improve realm performance, and scheduled the same for the Americas/Oceanic realms today. With the maintenance in EU we experimented with raising population caps, and we’re continuing to make adjustments up and down to ensure a smoother game experience. Today we’re continuing to hotfix in-game issues, address any login and authentication issues occurring from the high number of players attempting to play, and make any changes and adjustments we can while the game is live. While these changes have made a marked improvement for the in-game experience, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

As most of you are aware, the demand on the game is extremely high right now, leading to increased queue times on many realms. We’re also seeing some login errors as a result. This is compounded by us needing to temporarily lower the population caps on all realms to help assist in realm stability issues due to a number of in-game factors that are putting greater than normal strain on the game servers. For those in-game now we’re seeing fairly stable gameplay, but with some continued issues when phasing into the Garrison. Even with lowered population caps we’re not seeing performance where it needs to be.

We’ve been working toward much larger and longer term service improvements, which we’ll be implementing with off-peak maintenance tonight. A large portion of this extended maintenance will be upgrades to server hardware to help cope with the increased demand we’re seeing. We’re optimistic that hardware upgrades as well as some additional fixes and changes will resolve the in-game issues primarily centered around accessing Garrisons. We’re also continuing to test and implement new performance improvements whenever and wherever possible.

We appreciate your continued patience, and we’ll be providing updates here as work progresses. If you use Twitter, we recommend following @BlizzardCS and @Warcraft for updates as well.

Quote from: Blizzard
[Update] 1:40 p.m. PSTWe’ve scheduled extended maintenance tomorrow for the Americas/Oceanic at 3:00 a.m. PST, and Europe at 5:00 a.m. CET. Further details on our service progress thus far, as well as what this maintenance will entail, is forthcoming.

Stability And Maintenance Updates November 14th

6.0.3 Hotfixes: November 13

 

The stability of the realms in the first 24 hours of the launch was not what many had hoped for. Here’s an overview of all the stability/maintenance blue posts:

Garrison Access Issues

Quote from: Blizzard

We’re tracking a few issues that are impeding access or progression with Garrisons. To address these issues we’ll be restarting some Garrison services which will impact access to the Garrison for some realms. While these restarts progress, this may result in characters not being able to phase into the Garrison, or become temporarily stuck while phasing in. This is a temporary effect and should resolve as these services return.We’re continuing to look into other issues outside of this impact on Garrison access, including realm latency and its affect on gameplay and questing elements. We’ve implemented dozens of hotfixes over the last few hours, and will be continuing to work toward resolution of any outstanding issues.

The majority of our fixes are aimed at issues that are resulting in latency. Latency itself is not a singular issue, but is the effect of many compound issues–a few of which are related to Garrisons.

Warlords of Draenor Launch Update

Quote from: Blizzard

[Update] 9:00 p.m. PST

We’ll be performing maintenance on all NA realms beginning at 5 a.m. PST in order to address issues with realm stability. We anticipate this process will last approximately 4 hours and appreciate your patience during this time.

[Update] 8:00 p.m. PST

Our top priority continues to be service issues impacting performance and long wait times on North American realms. We recently pushed a server change that caused disconnects, and as a result login services are heavily impacted as players attempt to (re)log in to the game. If you experience issues logging in, please be patient and wait a few minutes before trying again. We’re continuing to work to address other stability and latency issues as well as make additional improvements in game performance.

[Update] 6:01 p.m. PST

We’re continuing to work toward greater realm stability and address the service issues impacting latency. Our current biggest hurdle is the concentration of players in specific areas and zones, and an unexpected effect of that concentration on the realm stability. We’re continuing to maintain a lowered realm population cap to help with the stability, which is resulting in increased queue times. We’re seeing some increase in individual zones drop which are causing localized player disconnections as we get into primetime in the Americas, and if someone is disconnected they will quite likely run into a queue to log back in. Work is progressing on improving realm stability through fixes targeting individual in-game issues, as well as on the backend game and network services.

3:02 p.m. PST

We’re excited to finally launch Warlords of Draenor and explore this new world with you, but we know that the experience has been less than ideal as we approach our first full day of launch.

Europe was our first region to launch, and we encountered a few issues due to the sheer number of players attempting to enter Draenor from a single location. We worked to add multiple new ways to access Draenor, and this helped ease some of the initial rush into the new expansion as players were able to access it from their capital cities, as well as from the shrines in Pandaria.

While that solution helped a ton for our North American launch, we ran into a few other issues, including a distributed denial of service attack, that resulted in increased latency.

To help correct for this and other issues, we’ve temporarily lowered maximum realm populations. This means there will be high queue times experienced on high-population realms.

Here are some of the other important issues we’re currently working to address:

  • Instance servers timing out, which may impact dungeon access
  • Continent server issues, which are resulting in Player Not Found and disconnection issues
  • Garrison server issues, which are resulting in phasing and performance issues

We’ll post updates here as we make progress against these issues. Thank you for your zeal to face down the tyranny of the Iron Horde—and for your continued patience as we work to improve the current experience.

Realm Maintenance For Both EU and NA

Quote from: Blizzard
We’ll be performing unscheduled maintenance on all EU / NA realms beginning at 7 am CEST / 5 a.m. PST in order to address issues with realm stability. We anticipate this process will last approximately 4 hours and appreciate your patience during this time.

6.0.3 Hotfixes: November 13

Quote from: Blizzard

November 13

Update 3: 09:30pm PST

Classes

  • Monk
    • Brewmaster
      • Resolved an issue where Keg Smash may sometimes not generate Chi when used.

Quests

  • Artificer Romuul: Resolved an issue where players may sometimes not receive this quest after completing the Embaari Defense Crystal event.
  • Book Burning: Shadowborne Dementor should now always drop a Shadow Council Spellbook.
  • Shivertail’s Den: Made a change to make it easier to receive credit for “Find Shivertail’s Mother”.
  • The Great Salvation: Draenei prisoners should spawn more frequently now.
  • The Warlord’s Guard: Increased the spawn rates for Thunk, Gullok, and Splorg.
  • These Colors Don’t Run: Characters now receive credit towards planting a Frostwolf Banner when they defeat or help in defeating a Bladespire Ogre with the exception of Bladespire Mauler, Chef, Boarbuster, Ogron, and Goresnout.
  • Wrath of Gronn: Increased the spawn rate for Captive Gronns.

Creatures and NPCs

  • Collision geometry has been added to Drek’Thar, Thrall, and Gazlowe in Frostfire Ridge.
  • Gorg the Host should now allow multiple players to receive credit for defeating it.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

  • Resolved an issue where item levels for Battlegrounds, Arenas, and Skirmishes brackets below level 100 were not scaling correctly.

Items

  • Epic rings that are a part of the Legendary quest line can no longer be disenchanted.

Update 2: 6:00pm PST

Quests

  • Adherents of the Sun God: Increased spawn rates for Adherent Bladewing.
  • Dark Enemies: Increased spawn rates for Shadowmoon Voidmancer.
  • Escape from Shaz’gul: Players can now receive completion credit for the quest by defeating Terrorfang at the end.
  • [Requires a realm restart.] Gormaul Tower: (Temporary) Completion credit for the quest is automatically awarded once players reach the top of the hill.
  • Great Balls of Fire!: To address an issue where some players were unable to destroy the barricade, players now receive quest completition credit once they get to the top of the ramp.
  • Quakefist: Quakefist’s health now scales based on the number of players fighting it.
  • These Colors Don’t Run: Multiple players can now place a banner on a Bladespire Ogre if they had tap rights.

Creatures

  • Various Kaliri in the Spires of Arak area should no longer be too high off the ground to be attacked.
  • Various creatures should now correctly have a chance to drop fur that could be used for tailoring.

Items

  • Abberant’s Paw, Gnarled Goren Jaw, and Redclaw’s Gutripper now give a bonus to Spell Power.
  • Toy Train Set has been temporarily disabled.

Update 1: 1:30pm PST

Classes

  • Druid
    • Balance
      • Resolved an issue where the Eclipse indicator in the UI can sometimes not match the Druid’s current Balance power.

Quests

  • Back to Work / Looking for Lumber: Greatly increased the number of trees available to mark for both Horde and Alliance versions of the quest. Additionally, Lunarfall Ravens respawn much more quickly now.
  • Closing the Door: Resolved an issue where Void Portals may sometimes not close correctly.
  • Honor Has Its Rewards: The Shamanstone no longer requires characters to interact with it and will grant its blessing to players that are nearby.
  • Quakefist: Quakefist now spawns outside of the cave, making it easier to locate.
  • Ship Salvage / What We Need: Drudgeboat Salvage should now respawn more quickly.
  • The Clarity Elixir: Pristine Star Lily can now be looted by multiple players at the same time.
  • These Colors Don’t Run: Greatly increased the spawn rates for Bladespire Ogres and made them share tap credit.
  • Vengeance for the Fallen: Bleeding Hollow orcs respawn much more quickly now.

Creatures

  • Durotan at Beastwatch in Gorgrond is now significantly tougher.
  • Gorum can now be tapped by multiple characters. All players who contributed to defeating Gorum will now become eligible for loot.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

  • Challenge Mode
    • Characters can switch specializations once more after the Challenge Mode has started.

Twitch Warlords Dev Q&A Summary

WoD Logo

The devs had a live Q&A session on twitch, here’s a summary of the session with Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas and Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut  right before the WoD launch.

  • Competing factions like Aldor / Scryer could return in the future if they make sense to add to the game.
  • It’s expected that some time in the future (not 7.) ability/item level pruning will have to happen again. This is due to the amount of power increase that’s required in progression.
  • There will be a cool visual effect to show you have the legendary ring.
  • The limit on wearing crafted gear in WoD allows the developers to make crafted gear more powerful.
  • The Vale of Eternal Blossoms will not be restored in the future.
  • A hide shoulders feature along with hide helmet and hide cloak will likely not happen as it’s a large part of your character’s silhouette.
  • Mythic trash is harder than heroic trash. It’s not in the league of heroic to mythic boss, but it is still harder. This means there will be mythic trash loot!
  • The “keys” to skip to the end of the raid that was mentioned at blizzcon 2013 is still in in Blackrock Foundry. After the Iron Maidens there’s an orc blacksmith that will forge the key if you’ve cleared on the difficulty your raid instance is 4 times.
  • Secondary Professions will likely not be made account wide. But it is something they could consider.
  • There will be a second pass on lower level abilities. Later in the expansion they’ll have more of a chance to fix things that might be broken at the lower level.
  • Where it makes sense the graphical quality of old armor/weapon sets will be upgraded in the future. The orc/human guard armors are an example of this.
  • Active mana regeneration could potentially return in the future. The danger of it is getting the balance right. If it’s designed around the assumption you always use it in the downtime then that would put an additional burden on the healers.
  • A “Heroic” LFR will not be added. It’s seen as a way to see the content in a very accessible way. If you’re looking to progress your character more they’re hoping you’ll go into normal mode. The new group finder can help you find a group for this.
  • Gladiator stance was something they wanted like to design as a valid dps option. It satisfies the fantasy of being a gladiator with a 1handed weapon and a shield.
  • Questing zones will not automatically be cross-realm at the beginning of the expansion.
  • Tenaan Jungle can be split into multiple instances for the same realm to make sure it’s still a good experience.
  • Simulationcraft is a useful source of feedback but it’s not a completely correct source. They make different assumptions when simulating the dps. It can still expose errors though.
  • Armor/shield clipping in Tauren for example are viewed as bugs, so report them if you come across them.
  • Changing skin color in the barber shop is a completely reasonable feature to request.
  • The heirloom tab is looked at as a hopefully a warlords patch feature.
  • Arms warrior changes were based on WotLK design, to make them feel like Arms did back then. (In reference to Whirlwind)
  • World bosses will not be available at launch. Two will become available in the week of december 2nd. One week one will spawn, the next the other.
  • Warlords will just unlock at midnight.
  • Features for expansions are chosen through giant wishlists, brain sessions, lessons from the previous expansion and other ways. Per expansion it’s looked at what they want to put in the world they’re creating.
  • Worgen and goblin models will eventually be updated but they have a lower priority.
  • Hybrid healing in PvP is something they’re watching. Possible major changes will come in patch 6.1. Also at level 100 it will be a lot better.
  • In WoD we can expect to see “story patches”  between raid patches. 6.1 will likely be more focussed on systems updates and moving the story forward and 6.2 will be a major raid update.
  • Increasing the friends list capacity on battle.net beyond 100 friends is something they want to do, but there are technical limitations to sort out.
  • They have cool plans for class quests in the future, but nothing to share yet.
  • There will not be more glyph slots in the future. They need to be a hard choice.
  • You don’t want to stack versatility on every character because it’s not as good as other stats from an offensive point of view.
  • Fel flame was removed because they wanted lower the amount of mobile damage players had.
  • The postmaster returning everything has been fixed, he’s not as overzealous with armor scraps.
  • The Stacking The Deck buff rewards gold. This buff is given if you enter a queue with a premade group or if you requeue with a group you met through random group finder.
  • Transmogging fist weapons to swords and other 1handers is still not possible due to technical problems under the hood of transmogrification.
  • Blood DKs feel like they’re not using their weapon enough right now.
  • One of the lessons learned from phasing is they need to use phasing less.
  • A revamp for druid forms could happen in the future.
  • When designing talents/spells for a class they start from the perspective of the fantasy/lore of that class/spec.
  • They don’t want all class/specs to be the exact same on single target dps and aoe dps.
  • They still want secondary stats to be different in importance for players. But they don’t want a stat to be terrible for a class/spec.

Warlords Launch Mini-FAQ

Quote from: Blizzard
I’ve seen a handful of questions with regards to what happens when Warlords of Draenor launches, so here’s a brief FAQ that should hopefully clear up questions.

When will the launch of the game happen for my time zone/region?
Warlords of Draenor will launch in:

  • Europe at 12:00 a.m. CET on Thursday, November 13
  • North America (US) at 12:00 a.m. PST (1:00 a.m. Mountain, 2:00 a.m. CST, 3:00 a.m. EST) on Thursday, November 13
  • Oceanic will launch at the same time as the US.
  • Korea at 12:00 a.m. KST on Tuesday, November 18
  • Taiwan at 12:00 a.m. CST on Tuesday, November 18
  • China at 12:00 a.m. CST on Tuesday, November 18Don’t see the exact time listed for your area? Check out this handy Time Zone Converter.

    How do I get to Draenor?
    When the clock hits midnight (or whatever respective time zone you’re in), you’ll see the following things happen:

  • A server message (yellow text in your chat window) will be displayed, signaling the launch of Warlords of Draenor!
  • If you’ve already upgraded your account to Warlords of Draenor, a quest will popup in your quest log, directing you to the Blasted Lands. You do not need to be in a major city to receive this quest. If you haven’t upgraded your account, you won’t be able to receive the quest or venture in Draenor until you do.
  • Once you get to Blasted Lands, speak to Khadgar outside the Dark Portal to head to Draenor!
  • Note: you don’t need to be online at midnight to get the quest, it’ll be waiting for you whenever you do decide to login.
    Do I need to install Warlords of Draenor or use the install disc?
    If you’re already playing on retail realms, you have all the files you need to play Warlords of Draenor – no further downloads or installs are required. If you haven’t updated your WoW client to version 6.0.3 yet, you can either just run the Battle.net app to do so, or install the game using the Game Disc DVD (if you bought a Box Copy of Warlords of Draenor).

    Do i need to logout at midnight before I start leveling?
    Nope! If you’ve already upgraded your account to Warlords of Draenor, you won’t need to do anything! You can always double check your account status by logging into the Account Management page at https://us.battle.net/account/management/

    What happens if I boost a character to level 90 after Warlords of Draenor launches?

  • If you haven’t upgraded your account to Warlords of Draenor yet, your boosted character will be placed in Blasted Lands.
  • If you’ve upgraded your account to Warlords of Draenor, boosted characters are placed directly in Tanaan Jungle.
    If you have any other questions related to the launch of Warlords of Draenor, feel free to post them in this thread!