Update - Added November 30 hotfixes, including a massive boost to Gamon's already incredible power!
Blizzard Product Slate "Leak"
People are pretty excited about a new picture going around the web, supposedly a leak of the schedule of Blizzard's release for the next year. I don't usually comment that kind of things but ...
Source
The image appeared on MMOGamesite.com, apparently this is an english MMO site based in China and I already know a lot of people will hate me for reporting that news. The document itself is probably a slide from an internal presentation to executives and/or shareholders, and seems to be 8 months old according to the date at the top.
Battle.net 2.0
Starcraft 2
Nothing really new here, but I have no idea what SC2 Phoenix is.
Diablo 3
Target release date in a year makes sense. The 2 expansions aren't really a surprise but I wouldn't take it as a confirmation, that's usually the kind of stuff you mention in company meetings with the higher-ups to make everyone happy.
World of Warcraft
Titan
Yeah, that's Blizzard's new MMOFPS and I might have hinted at that in the past but I don't have a lot of extra information about it and the release date is just an estimation. Don't assume that it will be released by the end of 2013 based on that document, it would be very stupid.
Conclusion
The document is probably legit, even if it's already a little old it still confirms and backups a couple of information I already mentioned, and mentions the portuguese translation for the first time in public. Don't take it as a hard fact and don't bring it up too much on official forums but I think it's an interesting piece of information.
New Forum Titles are here!
The new titles are finally deployed on the forums and I'm only a few months late! Hopefully it will make the regular forum posters happier and it will be an awesome opportunity for the 40 new moderators I will promote tomorrow to ban hundreds of people trying to boost their post count. See the list below, the post count required for the last 3 titles will remain secret for the moment, it's ridiculously high anyway.
0 Keyboard Turner
10 Grunt
25 Blademaster
50 Field Marshal
100 High Overlord
200 The Patient
350 Stood in the Fire
500 Mechagnome
750 Dreadlord
1000 Bloodsail Admiral
1250 Brewmaster
1500 Epic!
1750 Pandaren Monk
2000 Warchief
2250 Pit Lord
2500 Herald of the Titans
3000 The Lightbringer
4000 Scarab Lord
5000 I am Murloc!
6000 Legendary!
7000 Immortal
8000 Elemental Lord
9000 Over 9000!
10000 Old God
11000 Titan
????? The Insane
????? The Unstoppable Force
????? Merely a Setback
Patch 4.0.3a Hotfixes - November 30
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)
Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.
November 30
Druid (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Hunter (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Mage (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Paladin (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Priest (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Warlock (Forums / Cataclysm Talent Calculator / Beta Skills/Talents)
Quests
BlizzCast 15 Now Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)
BlizzCast 15 is now live! In this episode, we bring you in-depth coverage of the upcoming Cataclysm expansion and discuss everything from world creation to class changes to sound design.
In our first segment, we discuss world-building with World of Warcraft Lead World Designer Alex Afrasiabi and Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton. For our second segment, we delve into music and sound design with Composer and Director of Audio Russell Brower and Senior Composer of Music and Sound Derek Duke. Our third segment focuses on the voice acting in Cataclysm with Producer of Casting and Talent Relations Andrea Toyias. Last, but certainly not least, we sit down with World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg Street to discuss the class and systems changes in Cataclysm.
Head over to the BlizzCast page to listen now, or download it from iTunes.
Dungeon Quest Experience Reduction
Originally Posted by Zarhym (Source)
We are applying a hotfix today to all level 1-60 dungeon quests for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms dungeons which will significantly reduce the amount of experience they award.
While dungeons should remain integral to our evolving storylines, and great places to collect gear in cooperative environments, we need to make sure each players questing progress remains relevant as dungeon quests are completed. In many cases were seeing players enter dungeons to complete quests, only to come out ahead of the leveling curve for the zones theyre in.
This change should allow players the opportunity to reap the benefits of running dungeons, while not outpacing the leveling flow from levels 1-60. At this time there are no plans for making any adjustments to dungeon quest experience for Outland, Northrend, and level 80+ Cataclysm dungeons.
You can find a list of all of the latest hotfixes here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869
Dungeon Level Changes
Originally Posted by Daxxarri (Source)
The Cataclysm has wrought changes to many facets of Azeroth and the dungeons found across the world are no exception. As many of the zones throughout the world now have new level ranges, the dungeons within their borders have been adjusted to match, and the items that drop within those dungeons have had their stats changed accordingly.
Here's a list of all 1-60 dungeons and the level range at which each should be explored, followed by the minimum level required for entry in parentheses.
In order by minimum level to enter.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
City Tabards and reputation in dungeons
If you are wearing one of the new faction tabards (e.g. Thunder Bluff, Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge, etc.), you will only receive reputation gains for that city/faction when in Classic (1-60), Northrend (70-80), and Cataclysm (80-85) dungeons. Outland dungeons will not currently provide reputation gains for the "home city" faction you are championing; this is intended.
Also, just as a heads up, if dungeon mobs and bosses are trivial to you, you will receive less reputation than if they are within your level range. This is just to ensure that players who exceed the dungeon's intended level range can still benefit from championing a specific faction, but aren't given a distinct advantage over those who are of the appropriate level and are unable to solo the content. This should also help encourage players to improve their reputation in dungeons more appropriate for their level, rather than running lower level content solely for the reputation (which isn't a bad thing by any means; we just want you to enjoy the content designed for your level range, too).
(Source)
Aesthetic minor glyphs
We've enjoyed the few that have been made and really hope to continue on with them. A big issue is always time constraints, but the biggest hurdle is probably that we don't have the capability to alter spell effects directly with a glyph yet. The tech doesn't exist for us. Swapping out models, like the two you mentioned, are somewhat easy as long as we like the actual effect and want it in the game. Changing fire to be colored green though, while awesome, isn't as easy.
Some of the things you mentioned are certainly possible, some are quite like never going to happen, and some we just need the tech to pull it off.
We do indeed though hope to keep adding aesthetic minor glyphs. (Source)
Upcoming realm status page
The page itself has undergone some key improvements. Realms will now be sortable by status, name, type (Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP), population, locale (i.e. time zones: Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern), and current queue. Also, when you're logged in, there will be a separate tab that will display the most relevant realms based on where your characters are, allowing you to quickly reference the status of the realms on which you play. (Source)
More...
Blizzard Product Slate "Leak"
People are pretty excited about a new picture going around the web, supposedly a leak of the schedule of Blizzard's release for the next year. I don't usually comment that kind of things but ...
Source
The image appeared on MMOGamesite.com, apparently this is an english MMO site based in China and I already know a lot of people will hate me for reporting that news. The document itself is probably a slide from an internal presentation to executives and/or shareholders, and seems to be 8 months old according to the date at the top.
Battle.net 2.0
- BNET2 - Well, that's the Battle.net we now use on WoW.
- BNET2MapMarket - This is pretty self explanatory, but I'm a little surprised by the timeline.
- BNET2 3rd Parties - The end-game with Battle.net is as far as I know to compete with Steam. One of the best way to do that would be to use the new platform to distribute a popular game, and if that game was an upcoming Call of Duty title the Activision/Blizzard merge would suddenly make a lot of sense, right?
Starcraft 2
Nothing really new here, but I have no idea what SC2 Phoenix is.
Diablo 3
Target release date in a year makes sense. The 2 expansions aren't really a surprise but I wouldn't take it as a confirmation, that's usually the kind of stuff you mention in company meetings with the higher-ups to make everyone happy.
World of Warcraft
- WoWMobile - Done/in-progress with the mobile Auction House and the upcoming extra features.
- Cataclysm - Well, we all know about that.
- WoW Brazil - Portuguese translation of the game. I already heard a couple of rumors about that and at this point I'm 99% sure it's true, this is one of the reason why I think this document is legit. (The 2 others being the TCG Game and Titan)
- WoW X4 - 4th expansion in a year and a half sounds very plausible.
- WoW TCG - TCG Game, this part will probably remind you of one of my old posts ... The Future of World of Warcraft: TCG
- WoW Movie - I'd say the timeline is off because the document is a few months old, before Sam Raimi decided to work on other projects before the Warcraft movie (but I still want to believe).
- WoW X5 - 5th expansion a year and a half later, nothing surprising.
Titan
Yeah, that's Blizzard's new MMOFPS and I might have hinted at that in the past but I don't have a lot of extra information about it and the release date is just an estimation. Don't assume that it will be released by the end of 2013 based on that document, it would be very stupid.
Conclusion
The document is probably legit, even if it's already a little old it still confirms and backups a couple of information I already mentioned, and mentions the portuguese translation for the first time in public. Don't take it as a hard fact and don't bring it up too much on official forums but I think it's an interesting piece of information.
New Forum Titles are here!
The new titles are finally deployed on the forums and I'm only a few months late! Hopefully it will make the regular forum posters happier and it will be an awesome opportunity for the 40 new moderators I will promote tomorrow to ban hundreds of people trying to boost their post count. See the list below, the post count required for the last 3 titles will remain secret for the moment, it's ridiculously high anyway.
0 Keyboard Turner
10 Grunt
25 Blademaster
50 Field Marshal
100 High Overlord
200 The Patient
350 Stood in the Fire
500 Mechagnome
750 Dreadlord
1000 Bloodsail Admiral
1250 Brewmaster
1500 Epic!
1750 Pandaren Monk
2000 Warchief
2250 Pit Lord
2500 Herald of the Titans
3000 The Lightbringer
4000 Scarab Lord
5000 I am Murloc!
6000 Legendary!
7000 Immortal
8000 Elemental Lord
9000 Over 9000!
10000 Old God
11000 Titan
????? The Insane
????? The Unstoppable Force
????? Merely a Setback
Patch 4.0.3a Hotfixes - November 30
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)
Here you will find a list of hotfixes that address various issues related to the release of patch 4.0.3a. While many have already been deployed on all realms, some may not be implemented until the next time your realm is restarted. We will continue to update this thread in the days ahead as additional hotfixes are applied.
November 30
- Gamon is now immune to all forms of crowd control, uses the abilities Charge and Battle Shout, and wrecks adversaries with his new two-handed axe.
- Players should no longer be prevented from entering a Battleground for no reason.
- Many loot tables for NPCs have been adjusted to provide the correct items and scaling.
- The Alchemy bonus from Flask of Stoneskin now grants 120 stamina, up from 80 stamina, to keep it in-line with similar bonuses from other professions.
- Many creatures in Uldaman were not awarding reputation upon death. This has been corrected.
- Wrathbone Reavers, Wrathbone Sorcerers, and Fallen Warriors no longer grant reputation in Pit of Saron.
- Players can again start the Thrall escape event in Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad regardless of quest status.
- The temporary guardian Basalt Rockling no longer drops from Balboa in Azshara.
- Magma-Lord Kolob in Burning Steppes no longer awards dungeon tabard reputation.
- The rest area for Tarren Mill is now correctly located in the inn.
- Golden Skeleton Key can no longer open lockboxes that requires a higher Lockpicking skill than 125.
- Bronjahm should once again drop Heroic-quality loot in Heroic Forge of Souls.
- Random, mean level 15 deer appeared in Teldrassil to the shock and awe of low-level players. They have been replaced with level 1 fawn.
- Gunships in Isle of Conquest should now work properly when a member of the opposite faction is on the gunship.
- It is no longer possible to bypass Fatigue beyond the borders of Dun Morogh (looking at you here, death knights).
- All ranks of Lifeblood are correctly granting the amount of Haste listed in their tooltips and are no longer affected by max health.
- Ravage! is no longer consuming Clearcasting when it is used, and is only benefiting from Stampede.
- Trueshot Aura now functions correctly for level 39 hunters.
- Hunter pets that were immortal can now be killed, flying pets no longer fly, and pets that were immobile after tamed properly move.
- Beetle and turtle pet armor is now consistent with other Tenacity pet armor.
- Qiraji Scarabs from the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj are no longer able to be effected by the Mutate Bug buff after being tamed.
- When Freeze misses or resists on the first target, but is successful on another target, the mage will correctly get the Fingers of Frost procs from the target successfully hit.
- Applying a damage-over-time Fire spell to a target that is being tanked no longer causes that target to face the mage.
- The effect of the talent Firestarter will no longer stop functioning when Molten Armor has only 30 minutes remaining when cast with Glyph of Armors active.
- Hammer of the Righteous now consistently hits all nearby targets, including those behind the paladin.
- Hammer of the Righteous should now function correctly if used right as an auto-attack begins.
- Holy Word: Sanctuary was healing for too much when used with Glyph of Prayer of Healing. This has been corrected.
- Demon pets should not be receiving the appropriate contribution of the warlock's armor.
- Blood Pact is now properly scaling with the level of party members.
Quests
- Dungeon quests for level 1-60 dungeons on Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor now reward significantly less experience. Read more about this change here.
- The event for "The Battle for Darrowshire" properly resets after a failed attempt and the Relic Bundle will correctly trigger the event again after a failed attempt.
- Soldiers in Northwatch Foothold, Durotar now spawn more frequently.
- Players should no longer get disconnected if they attempt to share a quest that isn't supposed to be sharable.
- Players should still be able to interact with Orgus after offering a drink for the quest "Let's See What You've Got, Zanzil".
- Ranger Glynda Nal'shea no longer has a duplicate personality appearing in Lor'danel, Darkshore.
- Satchel of Helpful Goods should be rewarded when players complete Shadowfang Keep via the Looking For Dungeon system.
- "The Secrets of Uldum" can be completed.
- Margol the Rager in Searing Gorge now respawns in a much more reasonable timeframe.
- Plainstriders in Northern Barrens now respawn considerably faster to meet the demand of their demise.
- "One Draenei's Junk..." and "Kum'isha's Endeavors" can no longer be shared.
- The quest item Enohar's Explosive Arrows for the quest "Curtail the Darktail" can now only be used on Darktail Bonepickers within Blasted Lands.
- Mounted characters can now proceed through "Rise of the Brotherhood" in Westfall without any complications.
- Buttonwillow's Hand Grenade from the quest "Remove Their Arms" can no longer be used outside of Blasted Lands.
- Golems at the Grimesilt Dig Site in Searing Gorge should now respawn at a more reasonable rate.
- Players should no longer experience a client crash when accepting the quest "A Destiny of Flame and Sorrow".
BlizzCast 15 Now Available
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)
BlizzCast 15 is now live! In this episode, we bring you in-depth coverage of the upcoming Cataclysm expansion and discuss everything from world creation to class changes to sound design.
In our first segment, we discuss world-building with World of Warcraft Lead World Designer Alex Afrasiabi and Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton. For our second segment, we delve into music and sound design with Composer and Director of Audio Russell Brower and Senior Composer of Music and Sound Derek Duke. Our third segment focuses on the voice acting in Cataclysm with Producer of Casting and Talent Relations Andrea Toyias. Last, but certainly not least, we sit down with World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg Street to discuss the class and systems changes in Cataclysm.
Head over to the BlizzCast page to listen now, or download it from iTunes.
Dungeon Quest Experience Reduction
Originally Posted by Zarhym (Source)
We are applying a hotfix today to all level 1-60 dungeon quests for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms dungeons which will significantly reduce the amount of experience they award.
While dungeons should remain integral to our evolving storylines, and great places to collect gear in cooperative environments, we need to make sure each players questing progress remains relevant as dungeon quests are completed. In many cases were seeing players enter dungeons to complete quests, only to come out ahead of the leveling curve for the zones theyre in.
This change should allow players the opportunity to reap the benefits of running dungeons, while not outpacing the leveling flow from levels 1-60. At this time there are no plans for making any adjustments to dungeon quest experience for Outland, Northrend, and level 80+ Cataclysm dungeons.
You can find a list of all of the latest hotfixes here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869
Dungeon Level Changes
Originally Posted by Daxxarri (Source)
The Cataclysm has wrought changes to many facets of Azeroth and the dungeons found across the world are no exception. As many of the zones throughout the world now have new level ranges, the dungeons within their borders have been adjusted to match, and the items that drop within those dungeons have had their stats changed accordingly.
Here's a list of all 1-60 dungeons and the level range at which each should be explored, followed by the minimum level required for entry in parentheses.
In order by minimum level to enter.
- The Deadmines - Level Range: 15-21 (10)
- Ragefire Chasm - Level Range: 15-21 (10)
- Wailing Caverns - Level Range: 15-25 (10)
- Shadowfang Keep - Level Range: 16-26 (11)
- Stormwind Stockade - Level Range: 20-30 (15)
- Blackfathom Deeps - Level Range: 20-30 (15)
- Gnomeregan - Level Range: 24-34 (19)
- The Scarlet Monastery - Graveyard - Level Range: 26-36 (21)
- The Scarlet Monastery - Library - Level Range: 29-39 (21)
- The Scarlet Monastery - Armory - Level Range: 32-42 (21)
- The Scarlet Monastery - Cathedral - Level Range: 35-45 (21)
- Razorfen Kraul - Level Range: 30-40 (25)
- Maraudon - Purple Crystals - Level Range: 30-40 (25)
- Maraudon - Orange Crystals - Level Range: 32-42 (25)
- Maraudon - Pristine Waters - Level Range: 34-44 (25)
- Uldaman - Level Range: 35-45 (30)
- Dire Maul - East - Level Range: 36-46 (31)
- Scholomance - Level Range: 38-48 (33)
- Dire Maul - West - Level Range: 39-49 (34)
- Razorfen Downs - Level Range: 40-50 (35)
- Dire Maul - North - Level Range: 42-52 (37)
- Stratholme - Main Gate - Level Range: 42-52 (37)
- Zul'farrak - Level Range: 44-54 (39)
- Stratholme - Service Entrance - Level Range: 46-56 (41)
- Blackrock Depths - Prison - Level Range: 47-57 (42)
- The Sunken Temple - Level Range: 50-60 (45)
- Blackrock Depths - Upper City - Level Range: 51-61 (46)
- Lower Blackrock Spire - Level Range: 55-65 (48)
- Upper Blackrock Spire - Level Range: 55-65 (48)
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
City Tabards and reputation in dungeons
If you are wearing one of the new faction tabards (e.g. Thunder Bluff, Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge, etc.), you will only receive reputation gains for that city/faction when in Classic (1-60), Northrend (70-80), and Cataclysm (80-85) dungeons. Outland dungeons will not currently provide reputation gains for the "home city" faction you are championing; this is intended.
Also, just as a heads up, if dungeon mobs and bosses are trivial to you, you will receive less reputation than if they are within your level range. This is just to ensure that players who exceed the dungeon's intended level range can still benefit from championing a specific faction, but aren't given a distinct advantage over those who are of the appropriate level and are unable to solo the content. This should also help encourage players to improve their reputation in dungeons more appropriate for their level, rather than running lower level content solely for the reputation (which isn't a bad thing by any means; we just want you to enjoy the content designed for your level range, too).
(Source)Aesthetic minor glyphs
We've enjoyed the few that have been made and really hope to continue on with them. A big issue is always time constraints, but the biggest hurdle is probably that we don't have the capability to alter spell effects directly with a glyph yet. The tech doesn't exist for us. Swapping out models, like the two you mentioned, are somewhat easy as long as we like the actual effect and want it in the game. Changing fire to be colored green though, while awesome, isn't as easy.
Some of the things you mentioned are certainly possible, some are quite like never going to happen, and some we just need the tech to pull it off.
We do indeed though hope to keep adding aesthetic minor glyphs. (Source)
Upcoming realm status page
The page itself has undergone some key improvements. Realms will now be sortable by status, name, type (Normal, PvP, RP, RP-PvP), population, locale (i.e. time zones: Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern), and current queue. Also, when you're logged in, there will be a separate tab that will display the most relevant realms based on where your characters are, allowing you to quickly reference the status of the realms on which you play.
(Source)More...