Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20426, Dev Interviews, Patch 6.2.2 Development, Blue Tweets

August 20, 2015, 7:46 pm

≫ Next: Grove Warden Mount, August 21 Hotfixes, Apexis Bonus Event, Poll, Final Boss #92

≪ Previous: BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket and Goody Bag Available, Patch 6.2.2 Release September 1

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Blizzcon 2015 Virtual Tickets and Goodie Bag Available, Cold Sesmic Slam Barbarian

The Grand Tournament Arrives August 24th, BlizzCon 2015 Virtual Ticket Now Available

Developer Q&A on Reddit

Dev Interviews
MMOGames had the chance to talk Tom Chilton and Ion Hazzikostas recently.

• Warlords of Draenor had a good story, but it was disconnected from the game world. Going forward the team will try to integrate the storytelling into the game, especially in max level content.
• The Hunter's Class hall will be in the peaks of High Mountain.
• Blizzcon is likely to have "the first playable tour of the world".
• Internal alpha is going on now.
• Legion could launch before or after the Warcraft movie and the expansion release date isn't tied to it.

Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20426
Notes are in progress, so keep checking back!

New Icons

New Reserved Names

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

• holinka
• hoilnka

Achievement Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Shipyard
Garrisons

• Naval Mechanics Obtain all of the naval equpment blueprints listed below. 5 points.Account Wide.

Spell Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Item Set Bonuses

• Increased Armor 100+100 Armor.+130 Armor.
• Item - LFR T18 Mail Agility 4P Bonus Your special attacks have a 10% chance to cause a Fel Explosion, dealing 14,2508,106 Damage to all nearby enemies within 0 yards.
• Item - Warrior T18 Fury 4P Bonus Your Wild Strike critical strikes reduce the cooldown of Recklessness by 25 sec.30 sec.

Druid (Forums, Talent Calculator)

• Thrash Strikes all enemy targets within 8 yards, dealing [ 1 + 46.64%51.3% of AP ] bleed damage and an additional [ 5 + 33.22%36.5% of AP ] damage over 15 sec. Requires Cat Form. Feral, Guardian. 50 Energy. 8 yd range. Instant.

Feral

• Rake Rake the target for [ 1 + 51.7%62% of AP ] Bleed damage and an additional [ 5 + 51.7%62% of AP ] Bleed damage over 15 sec. Awards 1 combo points. If used while stealthed, the target will be stunned for 4 sec. Requires Cat Form. Druid - Feral Spec. 35 Energy. Melee range. Instant.
• Rip (Balance, Guardian, Restoration) Damage increases per combo point: 1 point : [ 132%[ 158.4% of AP ] damage 2 points: [ 264%[ 316.8% of AP ] damage 3 points: [ 396%[ 475.2% of AP ] damage 4 points: [ 528%[ 633.6% of AP ] damage 5 points: [ 660% of AP ] damage[ 792% of AP ] damage
• Rip (Feral) Damage increases per combo point: 1 point : [ 165.1%[ 198.1% of AP ] damage 2 points: [ 330.1%[ 396.1% of AP ] damage 3 points: [ 495.2%[ 594.2% of AP ] damage 4 points: [ 660.2%[ 792.3% of AP ] damage 5 points: [ 825.3% of AP ] damage[ 990.3% of AP ] damage

Priest (Forums, Talent Calculator)

• Devouring Plague Consumes 3 Shadow Orbs to deal [ 1 + 264%290.4% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and then an additional 100% of the initial damage over 6 sec. Heals the caster for 100% of damage done. Instant.

Shadow

• Devouring Plague Consumes 3 Shadow Orbs to deal [ 1 + 264%290.4% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and then an additional 100% of the initial damage over 6 sec. Heals the caster for 100% of damage done. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. All Shadow Orbs. 40 yd range. Instant.
• Mind Blast Blasts the target for [ 1 + 200%220% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage and generates 1 Shadow Orbs. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.25% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast. 9 sec cooldown.
• Mind Flay Assault the target's mind with Shadow energy, causing [ 3 + 33%39.6% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage over 3 sec and slowing their movement speed by 50%. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.25% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 3 sec cast (Channeled).
• Mind Spike Blasts the target for [ 1 + 90.8% of Spell Power 1;] Shadowfrost damage, but extinguishes your damage over time effects on the target. Can be cast in Shadowform. Priest - Shadow Spec. 0.125% of Base Mana. 40 yd range. 1.5 sec cast.

Warrior (Forums, Talent Calculator)
Protection

• DevastateDeals (250%Deals (265% of weapon damage) Physical damage, and has a 30% chance to reset the cooldown on Shield Slam and cause it to generate 5 more Rage. Requires Shields. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant.
• Revenge Instantly attack an enemy and two additional enemies, dealing [ 1 + 352.8%374% of AP ] damage to the primary target and 50% damage to the secondary targets, and generating 20 Rage. Your successful dodges and parries reset the cooldown on Revenge. Requires Melee Weapon. Requires Defensive Stance. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant. 9 sec cooldown.
• Shield Slam Slam the target with your shield, causing [ AP * (0.3660.561 + (gte(Level, 80)) * (0.426) + (gte(Level, 85)) * (2.46)) ] damage and generating 20 Rage. Critical strikes with Shield Slam cause your next Heroic Strike to cost no Rage and be a critical strike. Requires Shields. Warrior - Protection Spec. Melee range. Instant. 6 sec cooldown.

Racials
Blood Elf

• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and increase your Rage by 15. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 20 Runic Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 15 of your Focus. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 3% of your Mana. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 15 Energy. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 1 Holy Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 23 sec and restore 1 Chi. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.

Goblin

• Rocket Barrage Launches your belt rockets at an enemy, dealing [ 1 + 42.9% of Spell Power + 50% of AP + 2 * Level ] fire damage. Goblin Racial. 30 yd range. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.
• Rocket Jump Activates your rocket belt to jump forward. Other effects which slow the rate of falling cannot be used within 10 sec after using this ability. Goblin Racial. Instant. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.

Orc

• Hardiness Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 15%. Orc Racial.20%. Orc Racial.

Tauren

• War Stomp Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 23 sec. Limited to 5 targets. Tauren Racial. 0.5 sec cast. 2 min cooldown.1.5 min cooldown.

Troll

• Da Voodoo Shuffle Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15%20%. Trolls be flippin' out mon! Troll Racial.

Strings Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

• SPELL_FAILED_NOT_WHILE_MERCENARY - You can't do that while you are a mercenary

Patch 6.2.2 Development Timeline

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

---WARNING: HERE THERE BE PERSONAL OPINION DRAGONS---
I'll start with this: we're a software development company. More precisely, we're a video game developer. Anything and everything can change in the software development world, for reasons that are often impossible to predict ahead of time. As a result, we're hesitant to 100% commit to anything. We've learned that, no matter how confident we are at any given point, there's always a very real chance that there's something we haven't thought of that makes what we want to do impossible.

The whole "weeks, not months" thing makes an easy example. At the time that was said, we firmly believed that it would only take us a few weeks to polish off Tanaan and fix a few areas we knew were likely to have some bugs, and then we'd roll out the flying patch. It's easy enough, right? We just change a few 0's to 1's and it's all done.

Then we started finding a lot more bugs and glitches than we expected. We found tiny pockets of the world that weren't properly obeying the flight rules, and would drop players to their deaths if you happened to fly through them. We found issues with certain mounts and class abilities that were caused by hotfixes to resolve exploits, which resulted in those mounts and abilities not working. We found situations in which if you fly into your Garrison at juuuuust the right angle, you get disconnected and can't get back onto your character for a good half hour or so.

Finding those bugs, implementing fixes, testing those fixes, finding more bugs (sometimes caused by those fixes)... it all added up to a lot more work being needed to actually enable flying than we had originally expected. And as a result, what we originally thought would only take a few weeks ended up taking a couple months.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not making excuses here. And I don't at all blame the players who are frustrated and upset that we didn't hit the timeline we originally stated. Honestly, we probably should never have said that it would only take a few weeks. That was clearly a mistake, and I apologize for it.

But that should hopefully give you an idea of why -- ESPECIALLY given the missteps we've made in the recent past -- we simply can't 100% guarantee that nothing will go wrong between now and September 1st. Truth is, we're more confident in this release date than we usually are this far in advance of a patch. That's why we felt that we could give a date at all.

There's just always -- ALWAYS -- a chance that something can go wrong at the last minute. We could, say, be finishing the fixes for the last couple of dismount bugs on the Saturday before release, and when we compile the final build, all of a sudden activating your flying mount teleports you to the graveyard in Westfall and deletes the contents of your inventory. Is that likely? Not really, no. But it's possible, so we need to make sure you're aware that things can change, just in case something like that does happen.

There are alternatives, of course. We could just not give a date until we know for 100% certain, which is our usual strategy. Like I said, we feel a little more confident in this date than usual, so we thought it was okay to share it.

The other option would have been to try to have the patch ready to go by the 1st, but not actually plan to release it until a week or so later. That would let us announce a date we'd be extremely confident in, but we'd essentially be delaying the release of flight even further, and we definitely don't want to do that. So, we gave a date that we feel pretty good about, with the reminder that we won't be able to release if something catastrophic happens.

This ended up being a giant wall of text, but I'll leave it with this: I know it's super frustrating when it feels like we're not being as open as we possibly could be. And I know it's equally frustrating when it seems like we're completely unwilling to commit to anything concrete. I spent 8 years as a player before I became an employee. I know exactly how it feels.

I just also know that it's better to not expect much and be pleasantly surprised, than to feel like a promise was broken. At least that's my opinion.

Regarding the transition from 6.2.1 to 6.2.2: we actually had two potential plans that were dependent on how things fell in terms of development timelines, which is why some of what we've said seems contradictory.

The core of it comes from our PTR testing process, and the fact that we are blessed with some extremely savvy fansite operators who are capable of combing through patch data, finding nuggets of information, and drawing educated conclusions based on that information. If we'd put, say, the Illidan-themed Murloc pet into the PTR data before Legion was announced, that would have been a pretty big tip-off. At the same time, we needed to get PTR testing for flight underway as quickly as possible, so that we could make sure we found all those silly obnoxious bugs I mentioned in my earlier post.

So, our strategy was to create two separate versions of the patch. 6.2.1 would have all of the relevant patch features (including flight), and 6.2.2 would have everything in 6.2.1 plus the upcoming stuff that the art team has been working on. In the unlikely event that everything went EXTREMELY smoothly with flight, we'd have the option to go ahead and push out 6.2.1, and 6.2.2 would come separately. If not, we'd just carry on with 6.2.2, which was basically the same patch plus some stuff that other parts of the WoW development team had been working on. As you're all aware, things did not go extremely smoothly with flight, so the latter option was what ended up happening.

I'll make a silly analogy. Think of the patch like a bus. This bus is waiting for a high-profile dignitary (flying) to finish up some negotiations, and as soon as she's done with those, she needs to leave to get to another conference. That bus will not leave without the dignitary, and it will leave immediately once she's on board.

That said, the bus is also capable of taking on other passengers (who for the sake of the analogy we'll assume are headed to the same place). The longer the dignitary's negotiations take, the more opportunity there is for other passengers to hitch a ride. The other passengers, in this case, are things like Mercenary Mode or the new pets and mounts. If the dignitary had finished unexpectedly quickly, there would be another bus coming by later that could take those passengers, but since she hasn't, the bus company decides to just take one trip instead of two. Make sense?

One other note: 6.2.1 was briefly labelled as a "Release Candidate" on the PTR prior to the switch to 6.2.2. "Release Candidate" is an internal term we use to basically mean "we think we might have fixed everything." As it turns out, we hadn't. In this case, if we hadn't had the transition to 6.2.2, 6.2.1 would have just stayed as "Release Candidate" until September 1st. But since we had this weird extra "hide your kids" strategy going on with the Legion stuff, the title was switched back as part of the changeover. I completely understand why that looks like "Blizzard delayed the patch to add some pets" to those who aren't familiar with our internal workings.

Regarding "you should have designed the world with flight from the beginning!" We actually did, we just had to do a lot more development after that, and some of that stuff broke flying in ways we didn't fully anticipate.

For example, when Warlords released, our servers were unable to handle the massive numbers of players trying to log into the game. Our server technicians pulled some absolutely crazy magic to dramatically increase the number of players who could be on a given server at one time. That solved the load issues, but ended up creating a large number of the dismount/de-instancing issues that players who have been testing flight on the PTR will have noticed.

Another example: a few weeks later, some exploits surfaced that were allowing certain players to fly in clearly unintended ways (such as Druids being able to leave Ashran with the Flight Form book still active). We hotfixed those exploits as they came up, but some of those hotfixes broke flying in Draenor in ways that continued even with flying properly enabled.

Obviously, we knew that both of those things were likely to cause some issues, we just severely underestimated how widespread (and difficult to resolve) those issues would be. And we didn't want to delay rolling out those fixes, because they had major implications for the live game (especially the server stuff), where no one was supposed to be able to fly at the time anyway.

Given the choice between letting thousands more people actually play the game and potentially breaking something that (at the time) we weren't sure was even going to matter later, it was an easy decision. But even easy decisions have consequences, and now we're having to deal with those in 6.2.1/6.2.2.

So, again: if you suspected that the new content would cause problems with flight, then why did you choose to heap MORE features on top of flying in his patch, knowing that would cause delays and thus upset people?
Because we knew it wouldn't, and it hasn't. None of the other content in 6.2.1/6.2.2 has delayed flying in any way.

There are multiple teams of people here working on multiple things. The people working on fixing up Draenor for flight are not the same people working on Mercenary Mode, or the class tuning changes, or the pets and mounts, etc.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Any chance region transfer (EU to US) will be available in the future? Or should I just trash my 7 yo account for a new one?
No plans or info to share on the potential for region transfers. (CM_Zarhym)

> spends 2 hours late at work writing a post apologizing for comm. failures
> gets accused of not caring about players
> business as usual
I obviously recognize that those people are in the vast minority, and appreciate all the kind words (CM_Lore)

10 Types of WoW Players You Will Encounter
Margaret is back with another video about different types of WoW players.

---

Grove Warden Mount, August 21 Hotfixes, Apexis Bonus Event, Poll, Final Boss #92

August 22, 2015, 12:03 am

≫ Next: Patch 6.2 Class Representation, Tweets, Wildstar Cosmic Tiers, WoWCraft #24

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20426, Dev Interviews, Patch 6.2.2 Development, Blue Tweets

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Reddit Q&A on September 1st, Quin's 2.3 Shenlong Monk

No Free Packs on TGT Launch, Fel Reaver Bug Fixed, This Weekend in Hearthstone ESports

NA Road to Blizzcon August Open, GeForce GTX 950 Giveaway, Into the Nexus #63

Patch 6.2.2 - Grove Warden Mount
Patch 6.2.2 adds the new Grove Warden mount. The mount is being added with this patch, but may not appear on the shop for some time.

Patch 6.2 Hotfixes - August 21

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)

Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel

• Gorefiend
  
  • [Requires a realm restart] Corrected an issue that could cause players to die outright instead of having their souls devoured when suffering multiple simultaneous fatal damage events.
• Fel Lord Zakuun
  
  • Cloven Soul now provides a 4-second immunity to Wake of Destruction right after it's been applied to the player.

Apexis Crystal Bonus Event August 21 – 24

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

During the Sign of Apexis bonus event, you'll gain bonus Apexis Crystals from eligible creatures. Furthermore, completing the this-bonus event-only quest "The Time to Strike" awards a sizable amount of Oil to fuel your Naval Missions, in addition to a big pile of Apexis Crystals.

The point of picking up lots and lots of extra Apexis Crystals is, of course, to spend them! Here are some of the possibilities.

For most players, spending Apexis Crystals on gear upgrades is a great way to improve your overall item level. There's something for every slot at item level 650, so if you've still got a low-level item in one or two slots, you're covered. Visit Ravenspeaker Thelnaas in Tanaan Jungle to buy armor for 5,000 Crystals apiece, a weapon for 10,000 Crystals, and Empowered Apexis Fragments for 20,000 Crystals. Empowered Apexis Fragment are Battle.net Account-bound, and upgrade your Baleful gear from ilvl 650 to ilvl 695.

Some nice new collectibles came along with Tanaan Jungle. You'll want to consider:

• Reins of the Corrupted Dreadwing mount (150,000 Apexis Crystals)
• Rukhmar's Sacred Memory toy (50,000 Apexis Crystals)
• Blazing Firehawk pet (2,000 Apexis Crystals)
• Solar Priest Vayx follower (1,000 Apexis Crystals)

The bonus weekend is underway, and runs through the end of the day on Monday, August 24.

What are you aiming to buy with your extra crystals?

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Grove Warden Mount
I really hope you're conscious that seeing this mount in the store freaks everyone out concerning legion rep rewards
I'd heard similar feedback before but it was pronounced this time, thanks! I get you. (Muffinus)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Story
As a games designer, do you ever think you would let us, the heroes loose in an expansion!? we cant always win surely
As a narrative device I think this is fun but you have to sell "won every battle but lost the war." (OccupyGStreet)
Because it likely won't be fun for the player to just lose every fight. They still need to win a lot for a sense of satisfaction. (OccupyGStreet)
Consider Empire Strikes Back: the retreat from Hoth (spoiler) was a victory but not a victory like driving the Empire back. (OccupyGStreet)

Poll - Corrupted Dreadwing Mount
Roughly 9% of players active since June 1st already have the mount.

Final Boss #92 - Agility DPS
Last week Final Boss talked to some Agility DPS players to see what has changed recently.

Patch 6.2 Class Representation, Tweets, Wildstar Cosmic Tiers, WoWCraft #24

August 24, 2015, 2:52 am

≫ Next: Armory Stats - Races and Genders, Blue Tweets, Diablo III - Patch 2.3, HeroStorm #4

≪ Previous: Grove Warden Mount, August 21 Hotfixes, Apexis Bonus Event, Poll, Final Boss #92

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ZiggyD Dev Interview, 3D Kanai's Cube Fanart

TGT Launches Tomorrow, Top Decks of the Week, 10 Best Cards in TGT

Shop Update Reminder, Battlefield of Eternity Update, Carbot Ep. 4 Nazeebro and More

Armory Stats - Patch 6.2 Class Representation
It is time to look at Class Representation once again, before everyone becomes a Demon Hunter in Legion! This time we are only including characters that have been active since June 1, 2015. We last looked at this data during Patch 6.1, but did not only include recently active characters then, so the data isn't directly comparable.

This sample includes 5.9 million characters for all item levels, 3.4 million for 655+, 2.4 million for 665+, 1.7 million for 675+, 677k for 690+, 205k for 700+, and 51k for 710+. Keep in mind that the higher the item level, the smaller the sample size, which means a less than perfect reflection of the actual class balance at that item level range.

Don't see a chart? Enable javascript!

Don't see a chart? Enable javascript!

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW and game design. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Player Feedback
What is your process at Riot for reviewing feedback? Sometimes I feel we can't get rito attention without a huge post on reddit with a bunch of stupid memes, but every once in a while, someone will post a real discussion to no avail. It is frustrating that we feel like our feedback never matters.
There isn't a formalized process because as you can imagine the discussion itself is nuanced. We need to evaluate sentiment in all regions, evaluate potential changes against work already in flight, and try and understand if we are hearing from a vocal minority or someone being the spokesperson for a whole bunch of players.

We don't think the long red post on Reddit really scales well. We are trying to figure out some other options to get our feedback to your feedback out there. A suggestion we hear a lot is some kind of regular state of the game blog.

I have been talking to players on social media for nearly two decades now and I have experienced this sentiment a lot: that you guys don't feel heard. It's a challenging problem to solve in the absence of an announcement from us that says "we are making the change you suggested in the next patch." To be clear, sometimes that is going to happen. But there are many reasons that may not happen. If you're asking for a new feature and we are going to announce that feature in a big way in a few weeks, we aren't going to answer on social media and you may feel ignored. As I said we are exploring options for how to make sure you guys understand better what it is we value. We have gotten that message loud and clear.

Game Design
now i know you don't work for blizzard anymore but can you explain why they seem so threatened by new mmos or expansions for current mmos releasing?
I'm not sure if you are refering to a specific incident or something, but when I was there, there wasn't an excessive focus on what competitors did. It's actually pretty challenging in the game industry, and especially in the MMO space, to tactically respond to competitors. If they announce a new feature, you're probably 4 months away from being able to ship a competiting feature. If they want to launch on a certain day, you have very limited ability to pivot, because you probably locked into your own launch day 6 months ago.

So you are saying that Blizzard and Valve are reckless for implementing features that LoL doesn't have like voice chat?
I'm not qualified to talk about how Valve makes decisions. I would just be guessing. Blizzard is generally a very deliberate, almost cautious decision-maker, or at least they were two years ago. I would point to their voice chat as a rare misstep though (they would be the first to acknowledge that it isn't very good compared to third party alternatives, and isn't frequently used) so maybe that's not the strongest example to make your point.

This also doesn't mean adding voice is always a reckless idea. I just mean you need to be really careful about how you roll out some features that risk having more problems than benefits.

Misc
Do you feel like you're currently making the exact same design mistakes that you previously made at Blizzard? Specifically regarding caring more about new players than old?
Almost everything we do on League is for existing players. In fact, our new player experience is in pretty desperate need of being updated. We will get to it someday.

On WoW we did focus more on new players. They are just different companies with different priorities. I try to align my priorities to the company I'm at. But I will point out that I annoyed some players by focusing on more challenging dungeons on WoW.

How does it feel to have completely screwed up WoW, only to get hired at Riot and do the same thing again?
In both cases, I'm just one person on a large team. I have no problem if you want to hold me accountable for design decisions you don't like on either game, but it's pretty unfair to hundreds of people at Blizzard and Riot to imagine that any one person could steer the direction of either game so dramatically.

Wildstar - Cosmic Tiers
The Wildstar team announced the system that will unlock game features and cosmetic rewards once the game goes free to play. Players will unlock tiers by purchasing things in the in-game store. The more they spend, the more tiers will be unlocked. Players that don't want to spend any money on the game can still unlock things by using C.R.E.D.D. (Wildstar equivalent of the WoW Token).

WowCraft #24 - ShipRekt
WoWCraft takes a look at Shipyards in this episode.

Armory Stats - Races and Genders, Blue Tweets, Diablo III - Patch 2.3, HeroStorm #4

August 25, 2015, 12:12 am

≫ Next: Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20438, August 25 Hotfixes, HFC Wing 5, Blue Tweets

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2 Class Representation, Tweets, Wildstar Cosmic Tiers, WoWCraft #24

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Update (3:30 PM EDT): Archimonde is now spawning correctly in LFR.

Reddit Q&A on September 1st, Quin's 2.3 Shenlong Monk

No Free Packs on TGT Launch, Fel Reaver Bug Fixed, This Weekend in Hearthstone ESports

NA Road to Blizzcon August Open, GeForce GTX 950 Giveaway, Into the Nexus #63

Armory Stats - Races and Genders
Today we are taking a look at character races and genders. The last time we looked at this data was in 2011 and things have changed since then. New character models were added and every race now has a higher percentage of female characters. Tauren, Dwarves, and Undead had the smallest increase, while Draenei, Night Elves, and Blood Elves had the largest. Night Elves and Blood Elves went from being a majority of male to a majority of female characters.

The data today is based on 6.1 million characters that have been active since June 1, 2015. The first chart shows character genders for each race, only within that race. This means that each race will add up to 100%. You can click on the titles in the legend to turn on and off different data series.

The second chart shows character genders for each race, but weighted to their overall proportion. This allows you to see that even with the new character models, Female Dwarves are still the least popular.

The final chart shows the races without gender specific information.

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Don't see a chart? Enable javascript!

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Race	Total	Male	Male (2011)	Female	Female (2011)
Human	19.35%	56.12%	66.48%	43.88%	33.52%
Orc	8.44%	81.35%	89.34%	18.65%	10.66%
Dwarf	4.34%	85.82%	86.72%	14.18%	13.28%
Night Elf	11.50%	42.94%	56.20%	57.06%	43.80%
Undead	6.57%	76.44%	77.40%	23.56%	22.60%
Tauren	6.69%	85.58%	85.82%	14.42%	14.18%
Gnome	3.54%	56.10%	69.43%	43.90%	30.57%
Troll	5.96%	67.35%	74.24%	32.65%	25.76%
Goblin	2.54%	63.55%	72.44%	36.45%	27.56%
Blood Elf	14.06%	42.35%	55.05%	57.65%	44.95%
Draenei	7.09%	34.55%	47.73%	65.45%	52.27%
Worgen	4.80%	72.33%	80.00%	27.67%	20.00%
Pandaren (A)	2.65%	51.35%	0.00%	48.65%	0.00%
Pandaren (H)	2.48%	50.30%	0.00%	49.70%	0.00%

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Items
Crystallized Fel loot from Archimonde resets together with weekly LFR Reset OR with norm/heroic/mythic reset ?
This resets with weekly quest tracking, as do all other Legendary quest steps. (WarcraftDevs)

UI
Any hope to fix Tab-Targetting? Been broken since 6.x: https://gfycat.com/NeighboringUnimportantEchidna
Appreciate the report. We're currently investigating this. (WarcraftDevs)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

How much of an impact(if any) do you think Activision has had on the creative process of Blizzard?
None. (OccupyGStreet)

Love hard dungeons, but hard as in coordinating CC, using interrupts, stuns, ect. One shot death mechanics = not fun.
Agree, but they often go together. If it's is just "lots of damage" the healer gets blamed. (OccupyGStreet)

Do you think convenience is a double edged sword? at what point does clicking menus/teleports jeopardize the RPG in MMORPG?
Fast travel is a risk in a lot of games. The Witcher 3, a great game, risks losing its sense of world from click to teleport. (OccupyGStreet)
I get why players like it. I like it. But I don't think we always recognize what we are giving up for convenience. (OccupyGStreet)

I'm curious... if he'll answer... what community has worse personal attacks on its designers? WoW or LoL?
WoW in my experience. I think it has something to do with long term investment in a character which feels like higher stakes. (OccupyGStreet)
Also I guess with LoL you know exactly what you're getting into, but people play WoW for many reasons. (OccupyGStreet)
However it's also possible I'm just more experienced communicating now and may fewer flubs. (OccupyGStreet)
Riot and Blizzard also have very different communication styles. Blizzard practices polish so players expect that. (OccupyGStreet)

Diablo III - Patch 2.3 Recap
Diablofans has all of the details about the new features coming in Patch 2.3!

HeroStorm #4 - Nazeebro
Carbot released another episode of HeroStorm this weekend!

Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20438, August 25 Hotfixes, HFC Wing 5, Blue Tweets

August 25, 2015, 6:52 pm

≫ Next: Patch 6.2.2 PTR Notes Update, August 26 Hotfixes, Tweets, Virtual Ticket Giveaway

≪ Previous: Armory Stats - Races and Genders, Blue Tweets, Diablo III - Patch 2.3, HeroStorm #4

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Update (5:00 PM EDT): Added today's PTR build change

Reddit Q&A on September 1st, Quin's 2.3 Shenlong Monk

No Free Packs on TGT Launch, Fel Reaver Bug Fixed, This Weekend in Hearthstone ESports

NA Road to Blizzcon August Open, GeForce GTX 950 Giveaway, Into the Nexus #63

Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20444
Build 20444 will be deployed to the PTR realms soon.

Spell Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Item Set Bonuses

• Item - LFR T18 Mail Agility 4P Bonus Your special attacks have a 10% chance to cause a Fel Explosion, dealing 07,387 Damage to all nearby enemies within 0 yards.

Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20438
Build 20438 is going on the PTR tonight and is flagged as Release. The patch is scheduled to go live on September 1 if nothing goes wrong.

Spell Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Item Set Bonuses

• Item - LFR T18 Mail Agility 4P Bonus Your special attacks have a 10% chance to cause a Fel Explosion, dealing 8,10615000 Damage to all nearby enemies within 0 yards.

Racials
Blood Elf

• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 15 of your Focus. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 1 Chi. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 1 Holy Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and increase your Rage by 15. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 15 Energy. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 3% of your Mana. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.
• Arcane Torrent Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 32 sec and restore 20 Runic Power. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec. Blood Elf Racial. Instant. 1.5 min cooldown.

Tauren

• War Stomp Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 32 sec. Limited to 5 targets. Tauren Racial. 0.5 sec cast. 1.5 min cooldown.

Strings Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

• BLIZZARD_STORE_BOOST_UNREVOKED_CONSUMPTION - Your %s was used on %s on %s.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_CONFIRMATION_OTHER - Your purchase will be ready when processing has been completed.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_CONFIRMATION_OTHER_EUR - Your purchase will be ready when processing has been completed. |HurlIndex:21|h|cff006995Change your payment method|r|h

Patch 6.2 Hotfixes - August 25

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel

• Archimonde
  
  • Fixed an issue where Archimonde was not spawning on Raid Finder difficulty.
  • Defeating Archimonde on Raid Finder should no longer prevent players from being eligible to obtain Crystallized Fel if they defeat Archimonde again later that week on Normal, Heroic, or Mythic difficulty.

Hellfire Citadel - Raid Finder Wing 5
The final wing of Raid Finder difficulty Hellfire Citadel opened this week, allowing players to kill Archimonde.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Flying
why are raiders and pvpers left grounded when it comes to Draenor Pathfinder?
Counter-question: If you're only interested in raids, battlegrounds, or arenas, why do you care about flying in the open world? (CM_Lore)
If you want to fly, we want you to earn it - just like you earn gear, or titles, or basically everything else in the game. Earning flying - which is world content - through PvP would be just as weird as earning PvP gear through daily quests. (CM_Lore)
so like when i earned my first 310% speed flying mount through PvP, that was weird?
That was also... what, 3 expansions ago? (CM_Lore)
what's your point? flight has never been restricted to a single playstyle in the past, why now?
We want flight to be a reward, not something you spend some gold on once you hit max level. And we want earning that reward to involve doing content that's directly relevant to flight. (CM_Lore)
are you saying that players should be bored and frustrated to "earn" something we've already enjoyed for 8+ years?
I'm saying if you don't want to put in the minimal effort that's required to earn flying, then you won't get it. That's fine. I haven't done the rep grinds either. If I don't get flying, that's my own fault. (CM_Lore)
the main thing i'm getting from you guys is that you think flying is only relevant to world PvEers. and that just isn't true.
Not at all. We just want it to be something you earn, and world PvE is the best fit for it. (CM_Lore)
I mean, could you imagine the uproar if for instance you couldn't ding 110 without winning 10 arena matches?
That's exactly my point though. Earning Draenor flight through PvP makes just as much sense as earning Conquest gear from raids. (CM_Lore)
you guys put so much work into making Draenor beautiful, and fixing it to be be flyable. Why deny us the opportunity to see it?
We're not denying anyone anything. You're perfectly capable of doing a few daily quests. I get that you don't personally enjoy dailies. Working toward rewards is the core of what makes MMORPGs special, imo. (CM_Lore)
but shouldn't gameplay be fun as well?
Sure, but different people enjoy different things. There's always going to be rewards you want behind content you don't like. I would love to have the monument with the Cinder Kitten on it in my Garrison, but I don't enjoy Pet Battles, so I don't get it. (CM_Lore)
those should not be gated behind lengthy, boring grinds which alienate PvPers
I think if you honestly care this much about flying, it's perfectly reasonable for us to ask you to do some basic world content. (CM_Lore)
"i think if you care this much about the legendary, it's perfectly reasonable for us to ask you to do a few BGs"
Eh, I think asking a raider to do a BG is a much bigger ask than asking a raider to do a few daily quests. (CM_Lore)
what about asking a PvPer to do dailies? I think you're way underestimating how much I haaaaate them
My dislike for dailies has been very well documented over the years. I've just been poking at them once or twice a week. (CM_Lore)

PvP
If you struggle to find people to play WoW with, you aren't alone. Ranked solo Q please
I'm curious: what would be the difference between a ranked solo queue and the current unrated queue? Better rewards? 10v10 maps? Just having a visible rating? (CM_Lore)
Solo 3s queue would be awesome. Something to do when no one is on. Healer/melee/range team templates
What would be different from 3v3 Skirmishes? (CM_Lore)
visible rating, competition, conquest. I queue solo skirms all the time; but I can 2v3 in them.
The challenge is, if rated solo queue exists, what keeps it from just replacing skirms entirely? (CM_Lore)

Developer Communication
What they're doing with the site for Star Citizen (blogs, updates, progress, etc). How feasible would this be for Blizzard to do?
There's a few challenges. Biggest is prob. that those updates still take a LOT of dev time, even when Community writes them. Ultimately we'd rather they spend more of their time making content than they do talking about content they'd like to make. Star Citizen's approach is interesting, but I'd be curious to know how much it hinders development. I also think they do a lot of over-promising, which makes sense for a Kickstarter model, but we're trying very hard to avoid. (CM_Lore)
Star Citizen also has a different development model due to being tied to the responsibilities of crowdfunding money.
Yeah, exactly. It's worth it for them, as talking about features they'd like to do directly increases their funding. We have a much higher risk of *losing* funding (ie: subs) due to failing to fulfill promises. (CM_Lore)

I feel like that balancing question -- how much of my job should be communication? -- gets asked in many industries.
Yep. We obviously have a communications department for that, but still need to work with devs to share info. (CM_Lore)

Patch 6.2.2 PTR Notes Update, August 26 Hotfixes, Tweets, Virtual Ticket Giveaway

August 26, 2015, 8:23 pm

≫ Next: Raid Finder Archimonde Nerfs, Timewalking Rewards Cost Changes, Tweets, FinalBoss #93

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20438, August 25 Hotfixes, HFC Wing 5, Blue Tweets

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Patch 2.3 Roundup - 2.3 Releasing Tomorrow

Tavern Brawl No Spells Bug Fixed, TGT Arena Tier List, TAC #99, Awaiting for Authorization Issue

New Battleground Rotation, Top 5 Fails #14, Hottest Plays of the Week #43, Goblin Quests

Patch 6.2.2 PTR - Build 20444
A small build went on the PTR this afternoon.

Spell Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Item Set Bonuses

• Item - LFR T18 Mail Agility 4P Bonus Your special attacks have a 10% chance to cause a Fel Explosion, dealing 07,387 Damage to all nearby enemies within 0 yards.

Patch 6.2.2 PTR Notes Update - August 25

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Events and World Environment (New Section)
Bonus Events

• Bonus Events now begin earlier in the week on Wednesday. End date remains the same so there's now more time to complete the bonus event! Check the in-game calendar for new start times of each bonus event.

In-Game World Events

• A number of improvements and new additions have been made to the Hallow's End and Feast of Winter Veil world events.

Zones, Creatures, and NPCs
Tanaan Jungle

• Go beyond the dark portal on a flying mount to find three new rare elite Bleeding Hollow orcs that have a chance of dropping one of three new Crashin’ Thrashin’ toys.
• Behind the doors of the outdoors version of Hellfire Citadel awaits a new rare elite with a special drop for world PvP enthusiasts, the Spike-Toed Booterang.
• Steelsnout should now be correctly immune to being trapped by Deadly Iron Trap.

Nagrand

• Soar above the skies of Nagrand and explore the outdoors version of Highmaul and battle with three new rare elite ogres for a chance at one of three arcane-infused Manafiend battle pets.

Collections
Toy Box (New Section)

• Darkmoon Seesaw is now available from the Darkmoon Faire.
• Cursed Feather of Ikzan has been added to the Toy Box.
• Safari Hat has been added to the Toy Box.
• Shard of Archstone has been added to the Toy Box.
• Throbbing Blood Orb has been added to the Toy Box.

Garrisons
General

• A new events coordinator can now be found in level 3 garrisons. Visit the coordinator during Hallow’s End or Feast of Winter Veil to obtain garrison decorations that are usable all year round!

UI (New Section)

• Target marker icons have been disabled in public chat channels.
• There is now an option to disable Adventure Guide alerts in the Interface options menu, under display settings.

Achievements

• A new achievement has been added for collecting 300 mounts, Lord of the Reins. Completing the achievement awards a mount, the Reins of the Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent.
• A new achievement has been added for collecting 200 toys, Crashin' Thrashin' Commander. Completing the achievement awards the title, “Crashin’ Thrashin’".

Racial Abilities
Tauren

• War Stompnow stuns enemies for 3 seconds (up from 2 seconds), and now has a reduced cooldown of 1.5 minutes (down from 2 minutes), and cast time is no longer increased by damage (via spell pushback).

Undead

• Touch of the Grave now scales its damage based on 50% of the character's Attack Power or Spell Power, whichever is greater.

Class

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• General
  
  • Corruption now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.
• Affliction
  
  • Agonynow deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.
  • Unstable Affliction now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.

Patch 6.2 Hotfixes - August 26

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel

• Gorefiend
  
  • Gorefiend's Touch of Doom will now spawn a Doom Well only if the debuff expires naturally. Doom Well will not spawn if the afflicted player dies or gets sent into the stomach.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

ITT: Things you want to see in New Dalaran. Example: Manabonk And Son Polymorphic Arcanatorium. (Muffinus)
.Baby crocodiles in the sewer #Dalaran2 (Muffinus)
.Algalon, retired and opening a restaurant. (Muffinus)
.The ghost of Wilfred Fizzlebang, with an epic hunter quest to tame Jaraxxus. (Muffinus)
.A quest that lets you turn in both heroic and non-heroic Solace for the next OP trinket. (Muffinus)
.Horde + Alliance Friendship Jacuzzi. (Muffinus)
.Huggalon the Heart Watcher's massage parlor. (Muffinus)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Saw your recent discussion about developer communication. Was interesting. Sucks how awful people can be. Stay strong.
Players don't hurt my feelings. I am old and crusty. But other devs may be too scared or scarred to participate. (OccupyGStreet)

Shame that people fire back and say "Well, the devs need thicker skin!".... -.-
Would be nice if they did, but they don't, so it comes down to: do you want to talk to them or not? (OccupyGStreet)

But if there's a policy against talking to players, they clearly don't think it's worthwhile.
Developers might value it while the institution does not. (OccupyGStreet)

I'm just not fond of every company lately treating every single little thing like they're the nuclear launch codes
You mean keeping things too close to the chest? I agree. (OccupyGStreet)
If you promise and have to pivot, people are going to be disappointed. Just deal with it. Still better than never talking. (OccupyGStreet)

What do you think has prompted WoW players to come to you seeking answers about Blizzard as of recent?
I have a big mouth and poor impulse control. (OccupyGStreet)

Blizzcon Virtual Ticket Giveaway
Blizzard is giving away BlizzCon Virtual Tickets and Goody Bags.

Raid Finder Archimonde Nerfs, Timewalking Rewards Cost Changes, Tweets, FinalBoss #93

August 28, 2015, 4:03 am

≫ Next: Arena Skirmishes Bonus Weekend, This Month in WoW, Tweets, Diablo III - Season 4 Live

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2.2 PTR Notes Update, August 26 Hotfixes, Tweets, Virtual Ticket Giveaway

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Patch 2.3 Round-Up, Game Guide Updates, Monk and Barbarian Guides, Seasonal Leveling Guides

Power Core Card Back at BlizzCon EU Finals, TGT Card Pack Opening Statistics

Placement and Ranking System Update, Kael'thas Fix, Kolosalus' Kerrigan Guide and More

Raid Finder Archimonde Nerfs
Archimonde should be somewhat easier on Raid Finder difficulty in the future.

Armory Stats - Race / Class / Gender
In the stats from earlier this week some users were interested in a further breakdown by class, so we have included that data today. It is too long to include in the news, so click on the image below if you are interested!

Patch 6.2.2 - Timewalking Rewards
Patch 6.2.2 adds more rewards to Timewalking! You can see Cupri in Shattrath (Outland) to purchase these items for Timewarped Badge, rewarded from running Timewalking dungeons.

A recent PTR build adjusted the costs, but we haven't had another Timewalking weekend to confirm the new prices and any changes to the drop rate. The latest version of the official notes still says "Players now receive a Timewarped Badge when they complete a Timewalking dungeon". Keep in mind that the drop rate and prices are not final!

• Mounts - The Reins of the Eclipse Dragonhawk and Bridle of the Ironbound Wraithcharger cost 5,000 Timewarped Badge.
  
  • The Ironbound Wraithcharger model was added to the game in Mists of Pandaria and was originally going to be a shop mount.
• Heirloom Upgrades - You can purchase the heirloom upgrade items for 750 / 1000 badges (Armor) and 900 / 1200 badges (Weapon)
• Armor and Weapons - Timewarped Badge gear is item level 675 and uses the same models as some Burning Crusade gear.
• Reputation Commendations - These BoA items grant 500 Reputation with some of the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King factions.
• Pets - The Bag of Fishing Treasures can contain several different crocodile pets. You can also obtain this bag by completing the Crocolisks in the City daily quest.
• Cooking - The Barrel of Fish and Crate of Meat can contain some older Cooking recipes.

• Mounts
• Heirloom Upgrades
• Reputation
• Armor / Weapons
• Misc

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
80	Mount			Bridle of the Ironbound Wraithcharger	??
70	Mount			Reins of the Eclipse Dragonhawk	5000 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
90	Consumable			Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing	750 ×
90	Consumable			Ancient Heirloom Scabbard	900 ×
100	Consumable			Timeworn Heirloom Armor Casing	1000 ×
100	Consumable			Timeworn Heirloom Scabbard	1200 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
1	Quest			Commendation of the Kirin Tor	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Ebon Blade	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Argent Crusade	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Sons of Hodir	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Wyrmrest Accord	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of The Consortium	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of The Sha'tar	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Thrallmar	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Honor Hold	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Cenarion Expedition	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Keepers of Time	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Lower City	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Horde Expedition	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Alliance Vanguard	50 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
226	Neck	Neck		Shard of the Crystal Forest	??
213	Finger	Finger		Signet of the Impregnable Fortress	??
200	Trinket	Trinket		Sundial of the Exiled	??
200	Trinket	Trinket		Valor Medal of the First War	??
200	Trinket	Trinket		Mirror of Truth	??
245	Trinket	Trinket		Mark of Supremacy	??
110	Trinket	Trinket		Emblem of Fury	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket		Icon of the Silver Crescent	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket		Bloodlust Brooch	35 ×
226	Neck	Neck	All Strength	Spiked Battleguard Choker	??
245	Finger	Finger	All Strength	Bloodshed Band	??
110	Trinket	Trinket	All Strength	Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 601	35 ×
226	Neck	Neck	Healer	Frozen Tear of Elune	??
213	Finger	Finger	Healer	Renewal of Life	??
226	Neck	Neck	All Agility	Broach of the Wailing Night	??
213	Finger	Finger	All Agility	Ring of Invincibility	??
226	Neck	Neck	All Intellect	Evoker's Charm	??
213	Finger	Finger	All Intellect	Band of Channeled Magic	??
200	Trinket	Trinket	All Intellect	The Egg of Mortal Essence	??
110	Trinket	Trinket	All Intellect	Essence of the Martyr	35 ×
110	Off Hand	Off Hand	All Intellect	Talisman of Kalecgos	25 ×
110	Back	Back		Farstrider Defender's Cloak	50 ×
136	Back	Back	All Strength	Dory's Embrace	50 ×
110	Back	Back	Healer	Bishop's Cloak	50 ×
110	Back	Back	All Agility	Blood Knight War Cloak	50 ×
110	Cloth	Head	All Intellect	Cowl of Naaru Blessings	35 ×
264	Cloth	Chest	All Intellect	Meteor Chaser's Raiment	??
128	Cloth	Waist	All Intellect	Voodoo-Woven Belt	35 ×
141	Cloth	Legs	All Intellect	Corrupted Soulcloth Pantaloons	2250 ×
213	Cloth	Feet	All Intellect	Xintor's Expeditionary Boots	??
264	Cloth	Hands	All Intellect	Gloves of False Gestures	??
110	Back	Back	All Intellect	Shawl of Shifting Probabilities	50 ×
110	Leather	Head		Mask of the Deceiver	35 ×
264	Leather	Chest		Shadow Seeker's Tunic	??
141	Leather	Waist		Belt of the Silent Path	35 ×
141	Leather	Legs		Trousers of the Scryers' Retainer	25 ×
213	Leather	Feet		Boots of Captain Ellis	??
264	Leather	Hands		Cat Burglar's Grips	??
110	Mail	Head		Storm Master's Helmet	35 ×
264	Mail	Chest		Longstrider's Vest	??
141	Mail	Waist		Aftershock Waistguard	35 ×
141	Mail	Legs		Rushing Storm Kilt	25 ×
213	Mail	Feet		Pack-Ice Striders	??
264	Mail	Hands		Logsplitters	??
110	Plate	Head		Faceguard of Determination	35 ×
264	Plate	Chest		Castle Breaker's Battleplate	??
141	Plate	Waist		Girdle of Seething Rage	35 ×
141	Plate	Legs		Legplates of Unending Fury	25 ×
213	Plate	Feet		Kyzoc's Ground Stompers	??
264	Plate	Hands		Gauntlets of the Kraken	??
110	Shield	Off Hand	All Strength	Azure-Shield of Coldarra	25 ×
110	Shield	Off Hand	All Intellect	Mazthoril Honor Shield	25 ×
146	Two-handed Axe	Two Hand	All Strength	The Blade of Harbingers	100 ×
146	One-handed Mace	One Hand	All Intellect	Gavel of Naaru Blessings	35 ×
115	One-handed Sword	One Hand	All Strength	Sword of Unyielding Force	35 ×
146	Staff	Two Hand	All Agility	Staff of the Forest Lord	100 ×
141	Staff	Two Hand	All Intellect	Staff of the Soul-Eater	100 ×
146	Fist Weapon	One Hand	All Agility	Vanir's Fist of Brutality	35 ×
146	Dagger	One Hand	All Agility	The Mutilator	35 ×
146	Dagger	One Hand	All Intellect	Scryer's Blade of Focus	35 ×
146	Crossbow	Ranged	All Agility	Crossbow of Relentless Strikes	100 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
65	Junk			Barrel of Fish	25 ×
1	Junk			Crate of Meat	25 ×
70	Junk			Bag of Fishing Treasures	150 ×
70	Junk			Mark of the Ashtongue	1250 ×
1	Holiday			Timeless Mirror	500 ×

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Developer Communication
But you only need one person to go too far one time in a physical or material way. There is a value to risk proposition here to consider. (holinka)
what you do. It was Ghostcrawler, now you, and will be the one after. This is what they do.
You can make games without having a public presence. I will never stop making games, but perhaps I don't need to be public. (holinka)
The ugly truth is that bad people exist on the internet and if you choose to have a public presence, they will find you. Words are wind. (holinka)

Classes
Blizz sees rogues as criminals like Defias. Players think rogues are league of assassins.
No one is wrong here. The WoW "rogue" encompasses elite assassin, sneaky pickpocket, waylaying bandit, and more. (WatcherDev)

PvP
how long would you personally wait as a non-healer in a solo queue? (iamvhell)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Just curious, have you found many statistical correlations between time to obtain rewards and player engagement?
I don't know that I have data on it but I believe there is one. (OccupyGStreet)
Too long is frustrating. Too shot and you run out of rewards or devalue them. (OccupyGStreet)

I saw you respond to a very hostile question. I respect how you never shy away from those people but is it really worth it?
I think it deflates their anger a bit when you don't reciprocate with hostility. (OccupyGStreet)
I've had several people follow-up and say "Okay sorry that was out of line, but can we discuss the issue?" (OccupyGStreet)

But you do come across as arrogant, and arent transparent. Nice to see one of your tips is to run when its getting hot.
You can have one very in depth conversation with one player. I've certainly done that. Hard on the other players though. (OccupyGStreet)
On WoW, I could go back and forth on 3-4 threads for literally 5 hours. Which would be fine if that was my entire job. (OccupyGStreet)

Final Boss #93 - Ranged Casters
Final Boss talked to Ranged Casters this week.

Arena Skirmishes Bonus Weekend, This Month in WoW, Tweets, Diablo III - Season 4 Live

August 29, 2015, 12:12 am

≫ Next: Patch 6.2.2 Live This Week

≪ Previous: Raid Finder Archimonde Nerfs, Timewalking Rewards Cost Changes, Tweets, FinalBoss #93

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Season 4 Has Started, Witch Doctor and Crusader Guides

Deck Spotlight: TGT Legend Tempo Mage, This Weekend in HS ESports

MSI MGA International Tournament, Kharazim Solo Healer Guide, Science of the Storm #14

Arena Skirmishes Bonus Weekend August 28 - 31
Next week is the Wrath of the Lich King timewalking event. Patch 6.2.2 and the new Timewarped Badge system will be live by then as long as nothing changes!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Through the end of the day on Monday, Arena Skirmishes award triple bonus honor. There’s never been a better time to queue up for the Arena and crack some skulls. Keep an eye out for the event-only quest The Arena Calls. When you win 10 Arena matches, the quest awards 500 Conquest Points which do not count against your weekly Conquest Point maximum.

In case you’ve never participated in an Arena Skirmish, here’s an easy how-to guide:

• From anywhere in-game, open the Group Finder (default hotkey: i)
• Select the Player vs. Player tab on the bottom of the window.
• Under Arena Battles, choose either 2v2 or 3v3.
• Click the Join Battle button to be matched up with teammates.

It’s Arena PvP! Rush in and bash your opponents.

Will you answer the call to battle?

This Month in WoW – September 2015

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

September is here, and summertime is coming to an end. This month is chock-full of festivities, celebrations, and heated PvP action as we draw closer to BlizzCon 2015. Here’s a peek at some of the fun you can have!

In-Game Events

Darkmoon Faire Returns [September 6-13]
The wondrous and mystical Darkmoon Faire returns to Azeroth on September 6, and if you haven’t completed all of Silas Darkmoon’s new Darkmoon Races, now’s the time! Test your speed and agility on a variety of racing mounts as you dodge electrifying obstacles and zip all over Darkmoon Island for rewards and achievements. You may also want to take a few moments to be a kid again by going for a ride on the new Darkmoon Seesaw.

The faire continues to be one of the best ways to acquire heirloom gear, and don’t forget all of the toys, mounts, and pets that can only be gotten here. Get in that cannon!

Pirates’ Day [September 19-20]
Every year on this one day, Captain DeMeza lands at the goblin town of Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale, attempting to recruit land-lubbers into her buccaneer ranks. Don’t miss your chance to visit her or her henchmen in the capital cities. New for this year is the Big Bag of Booty. Be the Robin Hood of pirates by purchasing this one-time-use item which you can toss into the streets to help distribute piles of gold to those most in need. Yarr!

Brewfest [September 20-October 6]
Celebrated by both the Horde and the Alliance, Brewfest is a time to enjoy the fermented fruits of the harvest: pretzels, cheese, and brew! The competing breweries Thunderbrew, Barleybrew, and the Ogres, all come together outside of all the major cities in a bid to outdo each other with their special ales, meads, and beers. Brave adventurers are invited to sit back, take a pull, and sample the finest wares these brewers have to offer!

Brewfest is your only chance to acquire the Swift Brewfest Ram and Great Brewfest Kodo mounts, as well as the Wopertinger and Pin-Sized Pink Pachyderm pets. It’s also your chance to get your brew-covered mitts on a few new items: the Stout Alemental pet, and the Steamworks Sausage Grill and Brewfest Banner toys!

Harvest Festival [September 21-28]
The Harvest Festival is a time to commemorate those who have sacrificed their lives to help their allies. Throughout history, many have given their lives to that end. Every year, members of the Horde and the Alliance set aside time to honor the memories of the fallen, and to pay tribute to those whose memories are held most dear: Uther Lightbringer, for the Alliance, and Grommash Hellscream, for the Horde.

Members of the Alliance show their respect by lighting a candle at the Tomb of Uther Lightbringer in the Western Plaguelands. while members of the Horde show their respect to Grommash Hellscream by leaving a bottle of spirits at the base of the Hellscream Memorial in Demon Fall Canyon in Ashenvale.

But your determination to pay respects to the dearly departed doesn’t stop there! Show your patriotism by earning a new Spiritshard which will transforms you into an Anxious, Vengeful, Forlorn, or Peaceful spirit. It’ll be your chance to truly feel the emotions of those who have paid the ultimate price.

Upcoming World of Warcraft Tournaments

Road to BlizzCon: WoW North American Regionals
BlizzCon is only a couple of months away and teams are vying for a chance to make it to the finals. Don’t miss the WoW North American Regionals on the official World of Warcraft Twitch channel! We’ll be sharing more details on the event in the coming days.

GCDTV
GCDTV [(G)lobal (C)ool(D)own TV] continues its tournament hosted by DMachine, and cast by Arena veterans Supatease and Venruki.

• Tournament #21 – Saturday, September 5, 5:00 p.m. EDT/2:00 p.m. PDT
• Day 2/Finals – Sunday, September 6, 5:00 p.m. EDT/2:00 p.m. PDT

You can catch all of the action on the GCDTV Twitch channel, sign up to play on their Battlefy site, catch-up on previous tournament VoDs here, and follow their official GCDTV Twitter feed to stay up-to-date on all of the action.

ESL WoW (EU)
The Electronic Sports League continues to bring the weekend WoW action on:

• Sunday, September 6 at 17:00 CEST (8:00 a.m. PDT) – Go4WoW Europe Cup #10
  
• Sunday, September 13 at 17:00 CEST (8:00 a.m. PDT) – Go4WoW Europe Cup #11
• Sunday, September 20 at 17:00 CEST (8:00 a.m. PDT) – Go4WoW Europe Cup #12

For more information, head over to the ESL news site, and don’t forget to follow ESL on Twitch and Twitter.

Bonus Events

• September 4-7 – Northrend Timewalking
• September 11-14 – Battleground Bonus Event
• September 18-21 – Draenor Dungeons Bonus Event
• September 25-28 – Pet Battle Event

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

PvE
.Does LFR Archimonde drop the Ring upgrade?
No, Crystallized Fel is only available on Normal difficulty and above. (WarcraftDevs)

PvP
The biggest difference with ranked solo queue would be having a rating attached and MMR.
Keep in mind conquest does not exist in 7.0. Skirmish will provide honor and gear. (holinka)
I would certainly love to hear more ideas about how we can improve Ground Finder too. (holinka)
One common misconception about ranked solo queue is "I will only get great teammates!" (holinka)

But those good geared players do queue rated solo queue
The reward systems are different in 7.0 (holinka)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Can I ask you, how much has the WoW team changed since WotLK?
Not much. The leadership team stayed virtually the same the whole time I was there. Some folks went to Titan and several came back. The team was growing the entire time so you always saw a lot of new faces, but they were additions, not replacements. Reading between the lines a bit, I don't think this is one of those deals where some kind of new team radically evolved the philosophy. Blizzard turnover, even between teams, is very low by industry standards.

Why do Blizzard devs think anyone who disagrees with their direction or believes previous iterations of WoW were superior are blinded by rose colored glasses?
I can't speak for them, obviously. I will say as a game developer on a long-running game such as LoL or WoW or even Age of Empires, you tend to hear in about roughly equal proportions "this feature is flawed and stale, please update it" and "this feature was better before, please revert it." Thus, it's possible to often feel like you are fighting nostalgia, which might make you perceive it even when that isn't the player's specific feedback at the moment.

You don't tend to hear "this feature is perfect, please don't change it," because content customers don't tend to post on social media, but you hear plenty of "this feature was perfect - why did you change it?"

Final Fantasy XIV - 5 Million Accounts
Earlier this month Square Enix announced that FFXIV is up to 5 million accounts (not active subscribers)! For comparison, World of Warcraft hit 100 million in December 2013.

Diablo III - Season 4 Has Started
Season 4 has started! Diablofans has all of the details.

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Patch 6.2.2 Live This Week

August 31, 2015, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Patch Downtime, Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 1, Tweets, Flying Poll, DLC #502

≪ Previous: Arena Skirmishes Bonus Weekend, This Month in WoW, Tweets, Diablo III - Season 4 Live

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Update (4:10 PM EDT): Replaced PTR Patch Notes with the finalized version.

Patch 6.2.2 Live This Week
This patch adds flying to Draenor, Mercenary Mode, legendary quest catch-up quests, Timewalking Rewards, art for upcoming mounts and pets, updates for Winter's Veil and Hallows End, and tooltip updates.

• Flying - Players with Draenor Pathfinder will be able to fly!
• Mercenary Mode - Queue as the opposite faction when queue times are long!
• Timewalking Rewards - Earn Timewarped Badge from doing Timewalking Dungeons and purchase armor, weapons, heirloom upgrades, reputation tokens, mounts, and more!
• Rare Spawns - Smashum Grabb, Gondar, Drakum, Fel Overseer Mudlump.
• Legendary Ring
  
  • 14,958 Apexis Crystals can be exchanged for 5 Abrogator Stone Cluster each week.
  • 20,000 Apexis Crystals can be exchanged for 75 Elemental Rune each week.
• Legion / Blizzcon
  
  • Strings were added for a new and separate Level 100 boost.
  • The Illidari Felstalker will be the Collector's edition mount.
  • Nibbles will be the Collector's edition pet.
  • Murkidan will be the 2015 Blizzcon pet.
• Hallow's End
  
  • We are taking on the Bonefleet with 4 new quests: Culling the Crew, Smashing Squashlings, Mutiny on the Boneship, and Foul Fertilizer.
  • There is a reference to a special skybox for Shadowmoon Valley "SMV - Hallow's End Skybox"
  • Many new Winter's Veil and Hallow's End items were added, including items that let you dress up your garrison guards for the holiday.
  • Pepe got a Hallow's End costume.
  • Some new costumes were added, including VanCleef and Deathwing
• Winter's Veil
  
  • You can kill Grumpus, find the children he kidnapped, and destroy his awful gifts every day for some Merry Supplies.
  • You can also kill his grumplings daily for some Savage Snowballs.
  • The 2015 Winter's Veil gift was added.
  • An old unused title (the Supreme) was repurposed to Crashin' Thrashin', a reward for Crashin' Thrashin' Commander.
• Mounts
  
  • The Grove Warden is a moose mount that can be purchased from the shop.
  • The Eclipse Dragonhawk is a Timewalking mount.
  • The Ironbound Wraithcharger is a Timewalking Mount that uses the Steel Warhorse model from Mists of Pandaria.
  • The Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent has finally been used as a reward for players with 300 mounts.
  • Minion of Grumpus is a new Winter Veil mount. Currently he uses the existing Yeti model with another color skin.

New Icons

Flying
If you have earned Draenor Pathfinder, you will finally be able to fly in Draenor! Don't forget to take your Soaring Skyterror out for a spin.

Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent Mount
A new achievement has been added for collecting 300 mounts, Lord of the Reins. Completing the achievement awards a mount, the Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent.

Upcoming Mounts and Pets
Keep in mind that the art is going in with this patch, but many of these aren't going to be available for some time.

Legendary Quest Catch-Up
If you or your alts are still behind on the Legendary Quest, Patch 6.2.2 should help. In addition to the existing catch-up mechanics, you can trade Apexis Crystals each week for the legendary collection items.

Level	Name	Rewards	Objective
	Abrogator Arbitrator Weekly	5	Kluk'kluk wants you to bring him 14958 Apexis Crystals.
	Work Work Stoppage Weekly	75	Bring 20000 Apexis Crystals to the Renegade Ironworker.

Mercenary Mode
If your faction has sufficiently long wait times, you can talk to a NPC in Ashran to queue as the opposite faction. When you enter the PvP instance, your race will be changed the one of the other faction. This should help to alleviate the long queue times.

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Whenever your faction is experiencing a long wait time to get into Ashran or unrated Battlegrounds, agents of the enemy faction will appear in your base in Ashran (Stormshield for the Alliance, Warspear for the Horde). These agents will allow you to enter Ashran or Battlegrounds disguised as an enemy player, and actually fight as the opposite faction.

When you compete as a mercenary, you’ll still earn all the same rewards you would have by winning or losing as your own faction (with the exception of faction-specific achievements). You’ll also have your race automatically changed into one appropriate for the opposite faction while you’re still inside the Battleground or Ashran. Perhaps most importantly, however, you’ll experience much shorter queue times, as our matchmaking system will be able to fill up groups much quicker!

Our goal with Mercenary Mode is to allow players who want to participate in Ashran or unrated Battlegrounds the ability to do so without having to wait through long queues, while still maintaining the spirit of the core Alliance vs Horde fantasy.

On racials: The current intention is that the system swaps your race entirely, including your racial ability. We recognize that that puts Humans in a weird spot, so we're looking into some options there that aren't "spend your Honor/Conquest on a Medallion."

Only the faction that is currently experiencing a long queue will have the option to act as a Mercenary, and only when those queues reach a certain point. In the current environment, we expect that to generally be Alliance. Since queues have to reach that threshold before Mercenary Mode becomes available, we don't anticipate an increase in Horde queue times.

Using the Mercenary Mode system is completely opt-in. It's important to us that if you don't choose to participate in Mercenary Mode, it doesn't affect you. Should you be grouped with players who are using the system, they will not be identified to you as mercenaries -- they'll look like just another player from your faction.

Similarly, it's important to note that these are not creating "mixed-faction" scenarios. There will be no Humans fighting alongside Orcs. Again, our intent is that you are completely unaware that the person next to you is secretly a Night Elf.

We don't consider Mercenary Mode to be a replacement for racial balance. We just also don't think that perfectly balanced racials would instantly resolve queue time issues. We also don't think that players should feel forced to faction transfer (potentially away from friends and guildmates) in order to experience reasonable queue times.

Can I queue with my friends that are on horde this way or no?
No. Again, it's only intended to alleviate queue times.

Timewalking Rewards
Patch 6.2.2 adds more rewards to Timewalking! You can see Cupri in Shattrath (Outland) to purchase these items for Timewarped Badge, rewarded from running Timewalking dungeons.

We know the current cost of most items, but haven't had another Timewalking weekend to see what the drop rate is. Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking is this weekend, so we will know soon!

• Mounts - The Reins of the Eclipse Dragonhawk and Bridle of the Ironbound Wraithcharger cost 5,000 Timewarped Badge.
  
  • The Ironbound Wraithcharger model was added to the game in Mists of Pandaria and was originally going to be a shop mount.
• Heirloom Upgrades - You can purchase the heirloom upgrade items for 750 / 1000 badges (Armor) and 900 / 1200 badges (Weapon)
• Armor and Weapons - Timewarped Badge gear is item level 675 and uses the same models as some Burning Crusade gear.
• Reputation Commendations - These BoA items grant 500 Reputation with some of the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King factions.
• Pets - The Bag of Fishing Treasures can contain several different crocodile pets. You can also obtain this bag by completing the Crocolisks in the City daily quest.
• Cooking - The Barrel of Fish and Crate of Meat can contain some older Cooking recipes.

• Mounts
• Heirloom Upgrades
• Reputation
• Armor / Weapons
• Misc

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
80	Mount			Bridle of the Ironbound Wraithcharger	5000 ×
70	Mount			Reins of the Eclipse Dragonhawk	5000 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
90	Consumable			Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing	750 ×
90	Consumable			Ancient Heirloom Scabbard	900 ×
100	Consumable			Timeworn Heirloom Armor Casing	1000 ×
100	Consumable			Timeworn Heirloom Scabbard	1200 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
1	Quest			Commendation of the Kirin Tor	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Ebon Blade	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Argent Crusade	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Sons of Hodir	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Wyrmrest Accord	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of The Consortium	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of The Sha'tar	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Thrallmar	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Honor Hold	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Cenarion Expedition	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Keepers of Time	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of Lower City	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Horde Expedition	50 ×
1	Quest			Commendation of the Alliance Vanguard	50 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
226	Neck	Neck		Shard of the Crystal Forest	??
213	Finger	Finger		Signet of the Impregnable Fortress	??
200	Trinket	Trinket		Sundial of the Exiled	35 ×
200	Trinket	Trinket		Valor Medal of the First War	35 ×
200	Trinket	Trinket		Mirror of Truth	35 ×
245	Trinket	Trinket		Mark of Supremacy	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket		Emblem of Fury	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket		Icon of the Silver Crescent	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket		Bloodlust Brooch	35 ×
226	Neck	Neck	All Strength	Spiked Battleguard Choker	??
245	Finger	Finger	All Strength	Bloodshed Band	??
110	Trinket	Trinket	All Strength	Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 601	35 ×
226	Neck	Neck	Healer	Frozen Tear of Elune	??
213	Finger	Finger	Healer	Renewal of Life	??
226	Neck	Neck	All Agility	Broach of the Wailing Night	??
213	Finger	Finger	All Agility	Ring of Invincibility	??
226	Neck	Neck	All Intellect	Evoker's Charm	??
213	Finger	Finger	All Intellect	Band of Channeled Magic	??
200	Trinket	Trinket	All Intellect	The Egg of Mortal Essence	35 ×
110	Trinket	Trinket	All Intellect	Essence of the Martyr	35 ×
110	Off Hand	Off Hand	All Intellect	Talisman of Kalecgos	25 ×
110	Back	Back		Farstrider Defender's Cloak	50 ×
136	Back	Back	All Strength	Dory's Embrace	50 ×
110	Back	Back	Healer	Bishop's Cloak	50 ×
110	Back	Back	All Agility	Blood Knight War Cloak	50 ×
110	Cloth	Head	All Intellect	Cowl of Naaru Blessings	35 ×
264	Cloth	Chest	All Intellect	Meteor Chaser's Raiment	??
128	Cloth	Waist	All Intellect	Voodoo-Woven Belt	35 ×
141	Cloth	Legs	All Intellect	Corrupted Soulcloth Pantaloons	25 ×
213	Cloth	Feet	All Intellect	Xintor's Expeditionary Boots	??
264	Cloth	Hands	All Intellect	Gloves of False Gestures	??
110	Back	Back	All Intellect	Shawl of Shifting Probabilities	50 ×
110	Leather	Head		Mask of the Deceiver	35 ×
264	Leather	Chest		Shadow Seeker's Tunic	??
141	Leather	Waist		Belt of the Silent Path	35 ×
141	Leather	Legs		Trousers of the Scryers' Retainer	25 ×
213	Leather	Feet		Boots of Captain Ellis	??
264	Leather	Hands		Cat Burglar's Grips	??
110	Mail	Head		Storm Master's Helmet	35 ×
264	Mail	Chest		Longstrider's Vest	??
141	Mail	Waist		Aftershock Waistguard	35 ×
141	Mail	Legs		Rushing Storm Kilt	25 ×
213	Mail	Feet		Pack-Ice Striders	??
264	Mail	Hands		Logsplitters	??
110	Plate	Head		Faceguard of Determination	35 ×
264	Plate	Chest		Castle Breaker's Battleplate	??
141	Plate	Waist		Girdle of Seething Rage	35 ×
141	Plate	Legs		Legplates of Unending Fury	25 ×
213	Plate	Feet		Kyzoc's Ground Stompers	??
264	Plate	Hands		Gauntlets of the Kraken	??
110	Shield	Off Hand	All Strength	Azure-Shield of Coldarra	25 ×
110	Shield	Off Hand	All Intellect	Mazthoril Honor Shield	25 ×
146	Two-handed Axe	Two Hand	All Strength	The Blade of Harbingers	100 ×
146	One-handed Mace	One Hand	All Intellect	Gavel of Naaru Blessings	35 ×
115	One-handed Sword	One Hand	All Strength	Sword of Unyielding Force	35 ×
146	Staff	Two Hand	All Agility	Staff of the Forest Lord	100 ×
141	Staff	Two Hand	All Intellect	Staff of the Soul-Eater	100 ×
146	Fist Weapon	One Hand	All Agility	Vanir's Fist of Brutality	35 ×
146	Dagger	One Hand	All Agility	The Mutilator	35 ×
146	Dagger	One Hand	All Intellect	Scryer's Blade of Focus	35 ×
146	Crossbow	Ranged	All Agility	Crossbow of Relentless Strikes	100 ×

Level	Type	Slot	Spec	Name	Cost
65	Junk			Barrel of Fish	25 ×
1	Junk			Crate of Meat	25 ×
70	Junk			Bag of Fishing Treasures	150 ×
70	Junk			Mark of the Ashtongue	1250 ×
1	Holiday			Timeless Mirror	500 ×

New Items
This is only a small selection of the new items in the patch. For the full list of items coming in the patch, check out the 6.2.1 and 6.2.2 list on the PTR site.

Level	Type	Name
1	Companion Pets	A Tiny Infernal Collar
1	Companion Pets	Vibrating Arcane Crystal
1	Companion Pets	Warm Arcane Crystal
1	Companion Pets	Glittering Arcane Crystal
1	Companion Pets	Zeradar
1	Companion Pets	Brightpaw
1	Companion Pets	Nibbles
1	Companion Pets	Murkidan
1	Companion Pets	Grumpling
1	Holiday	Exquisite Costume Set: "Edwin VanCleef"
1	Holiday	Exquisite Costume Set: "Deathwing"
100	Holiday	Ever-Shifting Mirror
1	Other	Spike-Toed Booterang
80	Other	Grizzlesnout's Fang
1	Other	Anniversary Gift
1	Other	Ghoulish Guises
1	Other	Hallow's Glow
1	Other	Seer's Invitation
1	Other	Witch's Brew
1	Other	Creepy Crawlers
1	Other	Ball of Tangled Lights
1	Other	Imported Trees
1	Other	Little Helpers
1	Other	Festive Outfits
1	Other	Old Box of Decorations
1	Other	Inflatable Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker
1	Other	Snow Blower
1	Other	Sack of Spectral Spiders
100	Other	Coin of Many Faces
1	Other	A Tiny Scarecrow Costume
1	Other	"Merry Munchkin" Costume
40	Mount	Minion of Grumpus
20	Mount	Reins of the Illidari Felstalker
20	Mount	Grove Warden
80	Mount	Bridle of the Ironbound Wraithcharger
70	Mount	Reins of the Eclipse Dragonhawk
600	Trinket	Mercenary's Medallion of Adaptation
1	Consumable	Sack of Spiders
40	Item Enhancement	Winter's Grasp

Official Patch Notes

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Flying on Draenor
Flying has been enabled on Draenor for characters that have attained the account-wide achievement, Draenor Pathfinder.

PvP Mercenary Mode
Players are now able to act as a mercenary for the opposite faction in PvP whenever your faction is experiencing a long wait time to get into Ashran or unrated Battlegrounds. Agents of the enemy faction will appear at your base in Ashran (Stormshield for the Alliance, Warspear for the Horde) and allow you to enter Ashran or Battlegrounds disguised as an enemy player, and actually fight as the opposite faction.

While competing as a mercenary, players will automatically have their race changed into one appropriate for the opposite faction. Players will still be able to earn all the same rewards as winning or losing as their original faction (with the exception of faction-specific achievements).

Raids and Dungeons
New Timewalking Rewards

• Players now receive a Timewarped Badge when they complete a Timewalking dungeon. These badges can be redeemed at new vendors that appear during a Timewalking bonus event. The new vendors sell new toys, new mounts, heirloom and reputation tokens, in addition to gear that scales up to the character's level at the time of purchase.

Timewalking Loot Changes

• Timewalking bosses who had unusual drops, such as Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake, now have a chance to drop those items when defeated while Timewalking.

Hellfire Citadel

• Fixed an issue where players are not added back to the threat list after dropping out of combat and accepting a battle resurrection.
• Fixed an issue where Hellfire Assault: Spoils of the Assault chest could incorrectly appear to be already open.
• Fixed an issue where Tyrant Velhari could not be clicked on if there is an Ancient Enforcer, Ancient Harbinger, or Ancient Sovereign near her.

Dungeon Finder Changes

• Completing additional Random Warlords of Draenor Heroic dungeon after the first one now awards 50 Garrison Resources (up from 0).

PvP
Ashran

• Ashran now has a deserter mechanic. Upon entering, players receive a 5-minute buff called Ashran Tour of Duty. If the player leaves an Ashran match before this buff expires, a 10-minute debuff called Recreant will be applied that prevents entry into another Ashran match.

Quests
Legendary Ring Quest Line

• New weekly quests have been added to help players catch-up in earlier stages of the Legendary Ring Quest Line for Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry.

Events and World Environment
Bonus Events

• Bonus Events now begin earlier in the week on Wednesday. End date remains the same so there's now more time to complete the bonus event! Check the in-game calendar for new start times of each bonus event.

In-Game World Events

• A number of improvements and new additions have been made to the Hallow's End and Feast of Winter Veil world events.

Ashran

• Interior of the Armory at Stormshield should now be correctly furnished.
• Removed a stack of objects floating outside of the Armory at Stormshield.

Frostfire Ridge

• Cartographers have been notified and corrected a spelling error on the world map.

Zones, Creatures, and NPCs
Tanaan Jungle

• Behind the doors of the outdoors version of Hellfire Citadel awaits a new rare elite with a special drop for world PvP enthusiasts, the Spike-Toed Booterang.
• Go beyond the dark portal on a flying mount to find three new rare elite Bleeding Hollow orcs that have a chance of dropping one of three new Crashin’ Thrashin’ toys. Crashin' Thrashin' Mortar Controller, Crashin' Thrashin' Cannon Controller, Crashin' Thrashin' Roller Controller.
• Steelsnout should now be correctly immune to being trapped by Deadly Iron Trap.

Nagrand

• Soar above the skies of Nagrand and explore the outdoors version of Highmaul and battle with three new rare elite ogres for a chance at one of three arcane-infused Manafiend battle pets.

Shadowmoon Valley

• Weaponsmith Kaul should now be able to repair the player's equipment.

Darkmoon Island

• Darkmoon Rabbit should now correctly respect loot rules.

Collections
Toy Box

• Darkmoon Seesaw is now available from the Darkmoon Faire.
• Cursed Feather of Ikzan has been added to the Toy Box.
• Safari Hat has been added to the Toy Box.
• Shard of Archstone has been added to the Toy Box.
• Throbbing Blood Orb has been added to the Toy Box.

Mounts

• The maximum size of a mount is now capped at 150% of base size for cosmetic effects (up from 100%). Additionally, the minimum size of a mount is no longer capped.

Items

• Tooltips for items that have been empowered or created by Baleful tokens now have a Baleful and/or Empowered tag.
• Baleful rings, neck trinkets, and cloaks should now always create an item that has Bonus Armor for Tanking loot specializations, and Spirit for Healing loot specializations.
• Brazier of Awakening should no longer despawn at the end of a raid encounter without resurrecting a raid or party member.
• Medallion of the Legion is now only usable on Draenor to ensure players receives the appropriate reputation bonus from having a Level 3 Trading Post.
• Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent no longer has a reputation requirement with The August Celestials to learn.
• Fixed an issue with Wild Gladiator's Insignia of Dominance's tooltip.
• Fixed an issue where Gladiator's Accolade trinkets that gave a bonus to a secondary stat were incorrectly providing double the stated amount.

Garrisons
General

• A new events coordinator can now be found in level 3 garrisons. Visit the coordinator during Hallow’s End or Feast of Winter Veil to obtain garrison decorations that are usable all year round!

Followers

• Pallas Apex Predator trait should now correctly counter Aberrations or Furies on garrison missions.

Shipyard and Naval Missions

• Ship equipment items now have "Naval Equipment" in the item tooltip, enabling it to be searchable through the bag search UI.
• Fixed an issue where completing a naval mission at the Naval Command Table did not cause the Garrison Report icon to stop blinking.

UI

• Target marker icons have been disabled in public chat channels.
• There is now an option to disable Adventure Guide alerts in the Interface options menu, under display settings.

Achievements

• A new achievement has been added for collecting 300 mounts, Lord of the Reins. Completing the achievement awards a mount, the Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent.
• A new achievement has been added for collecting 200 toys, Crashin' Thrashin' Commander. Completing the achievement awards the title, “Crashin’ Thrashin’".
• Naval Mechanics: Credit for obtaining Equipment Blueprint: Blast Furnace should now be tracking properly and players should now be able to complete this achievement.

Racial Abilities
Blood Elf

• Arcane Torrent now has a reduced cooldown of 1.5 minutes (down from 2 minutes).

Goblin

• Rocket Barrage now has a 1.5-minute cooldown (down from 2 minutes).
• Rocket Jump now has a 1.5-minute cooldown (down from 2 minutes).

Orc

• Hardiness now reduces the duration of Stun effects by an additional 20% (up from 15%).

Troll

• Da Voodoo Shuffle now reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 20% (up from 15%). Trolls still be flippin' out mon!

Tauren

• War Stomp now has a reduced cooldown of 1.5 minutes (down from 2 minutes), and cast time is no longer increased by damage (via spell pushback).

Undead

• Touch of the Grave now scales its damage based on 50% of the character's Attack Power or Spell Power, whichever is greater.

Class

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• General
  
  • Thrash in Cat Form now deals 10% more damage.
• Feral
  
  • Rake now deals 20% more damage. In PvP combat, Rake now deals 20% less damage.
  • Rip now deals 20% more damage. In PvP combat, Rip now deals 20% less damage.

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
Please note that tooltip description for the following Monk abilities will be inaccurate. This will be corrected in a future patch.

• General
  
  • Blackout Kick now deals 10% more damage.
  • Rising Sun Kick now deals 10% more damage.
  • Tiger Palm now deals 20% more damage.
• Windwalker
  
  • Fists of Fury now deals 20% more damage.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Shadow
  
  • Devouring Plague now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Devouring Plague now deals 10% less damage.
  • Mind Blast now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Mind Blast now deals 10% less damage.
  • Mind Flay now deals 20% more damage.
  • Mind Spike now deals 10% more damage. In PvP combat, Mind Spike now deals 10% less damage.

Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• General
  
  • Corruption now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.
• Affliction
  
  • Agony now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.
  • Unstable Affliction now deals 10% less damage in PvP combat.

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Protection
  
  • Devastate now deals 6% more damage.
  • Shield Slam now deals 6% more damage.
  • Revenge now deals 6% more damage.
• Armor Sets
  
  • Tier-18 4-piece set bonus for Fury Warriors now reduces the cooldown of Recklessness by 30 seconds (up from 25 seconds).

Achievement Changes

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Children's Week
World Events

• Account Has Curious Wolvar Pup (New) Added for playercondition issues. Account Wide.
• Account Has Oracle Hatchling (New) Added for playercondition issues. Account Wide.

Darkmoon Faire
World Events

• Darkmoon Race Enthusiast Successfully complete a DarkmoonWelcome to the Darkmoon Races or The Real Race with the Racing Strider. 5 points.

Draenor
Exploration

• Draenor Pathfinder Complete the Draenor achievements listed below: Rewards: Soaring Skyterror (Draenor Flying in an upcoming patch). 25 points. Account Wide.and Draenor Flying. 25 points. Account Wide.
• I Came, I Clawed, I ConqueredLoot 500Loot 5000 Blackfang Claws from saberon at Fang'rila in Tanaan Jungle. 10 points.

Feats of Strength

• Collector's Edition: Illidari Felstalker (New) Owner of the Legion Collector's Edition Illidari Felstalker mount. Account Wide.
• Collector's Edition: Nibbles (New) Owner of the Legion Collector's Edition felstalker pet, Nibbles. Account Wide.
• Collector's Edition: Zeradar (New) Owner of the Legacy of the Void Collector's Edition archon pet, Zeradar. Account Wide.
• Crashin' Thrashin' Flamer (New) Proud owner of the 2015 Vintage Winter Veil gift, the Crashin' Thrashin' Flamer.
• Did Someone Say...? (New) Wielded Inflatable Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker. Account Wide.
• Murkidan (New) Proud owner of Murkidan from the 2015 BlizzCon. Account Wide.

Hallow's End
World Events

• A Frightening Friend (New) Find Pepe wearing his spooky scarecrow costume. 10 points. Account Wide.

Mounts
Collections

• Lord of the Reins (New) Obtain 300 mounts. Reward: Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent. 10 points. Account Wide.
• Lord of the Reins (New) Obtain 300 mounts. Reward: Heavenly Azure Cloud Serpent. 10 points. Account Wide.

Shipyard
Garrisons

• Naval Mechanics Obtain all of the naval equpment blueprints listed below. 5 points.Account Wide.

Toy Box
Collections

• Crashin' Thrashin' Commander (New) Collect 200 toys. Title Reward: Crashin' Thrashin'. 10 points. Account Wide.

Winter Veil
World Events

• Iron Armada (New) Collect all five toys that are part of the Crashin' Thrashin' "Iron Armada" set. 10 points. Account Wide.

New Strings

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

• BLIZZARD_STORE_BOOST_UNREVOKED_CONSUMPTION - Your %s was used on %s on %s.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_CONFIRMATION_OTHER - Your purchase will be ready when processing has been completed.
• BLIZZARD_STORE_CONFIRMATION_OTHER_EUR - Your purchase will be ready when processing has been completed. |HurlIndex:21|h|cff006995Change your payment method|r|h
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_100_FLOW_LABEL - LEVEL 100 CHARACTER BOOST
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_100_TOKEN_DESCRIPTION - Can be used on one character on your Battle.net account.
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_100_TOKEN_TITLE - Level 100 Character Boost
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_90_FLOW_LABEL - LEVEL 90 CHARACTER BOOST
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_90_TOKEN_DESCRIPTION - Can be used on one character on your Battle.net account.
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_90_TOKEN_TITLE - Level 90 Character Boost
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_FREE_100_POPUP_DESCRIPTION - Thank you for joining us!|nHere is the boost that comes with your purchase of Legion.
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_FREE_100_POPUP_TITLE - Level 100 Character Boost
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_FREE_90_POPUP_DESCRIPTION - Thank you for joining us!|nHere is the boost that comes with your purchase of Warlords of Draenor.
• CHARACTER_UPGRADE_FREE_90_POPUP_TITLE - Level 90 Character Boost
• ERR_BATTLEGROUND_JOIN_MERCENARY - Cannot join as a group unless all the members of your party are flagged as a mercenary.
• OPTION_TOOLTIP_SHOW_ADVENTURE_JOURNAL_ALERTS - Display alerts for new adventure opportunities
• PRE_PURCHASE_EXPANSION - Pre-purchase Now
• SHADER_MODEL_TO_BE_UNSUPPORTED - Warning: Your graphics card will not be supported in future versions of World of Warcraft, which will require a Shader Model 3 capable graphics card or better.
• SHOW_ADVENTURE_JOURNAL_ALERTS - Show Adventure Journal Alerts
• SPELL_FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR_272 - You must be a Mercenary to use this trinket.
• SPELL_FAILED_NOT_WHILE_MERCENARY - You can't do that while you are a mercenary
• UPGRADE_FEATURE_16 - Master the new Demon Hunter Class
• UPGRADE_FEATURE_17 - Battle to level 110 on the Broken Isles
• UPGRADE_FEATURE_18 - Boost a character to level 100
• WORLD_PVP_DESERTER - You cannot enter %s until your deserter debuff wears off.

Patch 6.2.2 In One Minute
Margaret is back with another quick patch recap!

Patch Downtime, Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 1, Tweets, Flying Poll, DLC #502

September 1, 2015, 5:37 pm

≫ Next: Timewarped Badge Rewards, September 2 Hotfixes, Tweets, GW2 Base Game Free to Play

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2.2 Live This Week

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Reddit Q&A Round-up

September Ranked Card Back - Exodar's Exodus

Placement & Ranking Changes, Americas Championship and Giveaways, Fails of the Week

Patch 6.2.2 Downtime
It looks like the team has managed to speed up the patching process, with Patch 6.2.2 requiring less than 2 hours of downtime in the US and less than 1 hour in the EU!

Timewalking Rewards
The Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking event is live! You can purchase rewards from Auzin in the center of Dalaran.

Users are reporting that bosses drop 5 x Timewarped Badge per boss, with 10 from the final boss, and 10 for completing a random dungeon. The Frigid Timewarped Prism drops once during the event, allowing you to complete The Unstable Prism for an additional 500 Timewarped Badge.

This means that players that do 5 Timewalker Dungeons during the event for A Frozen Path Through Time will earn ~675 Timewarped Badge (~35 per dungeon + 500 from the weekly quest).

Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 1

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Creatures and NPCs
Gorgrond

• Bloodfang Grub has been removed from Gorgrond, a level 92-94 zone.

Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel

• Gorefiend
  
  • Players that perish to Digest or suffer fatal damage while in Gorefiend's stomach should now be able to be seen and resurrected once their bodies have teleported back out.
• Fel Lord Zakuun
  
  • The Befouled debuff should now clear immediately when Foul Explosion is triggered.
  • [Requires a realm restart] Exhausted Soul should now be correctly removed from players at the end of the encounter.
• Archimonde
  
  • Archimonde's Source of Chaos ability should no longer be summoned without having a target on Mythic difficulty.
  • Raid Finder Difficulty Changes
    
    • Doomfire Spirits now produce Doomfire patches at a reduced rate on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • Doomfire Spirit health has been reduced by 30% on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • Archimonde's Shadowfel Burst now only knocks the primary target of the ability into the air on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • On Raid Finder difficulty, if less than 7 players enter the Twisting Nether while there are more than 7 players alive in the encounter, additional players will be pulled into the Nether based on role.
    • Shadowed Netherwalker health has been reduced by 20% on Raid Finder difficulty.
    • Infernal Doombringer no longer cast Eternal Flame and take 45 seconds to reach full energy (up from 30 seconds) on Raid Finder difficulty.

PvP
General

• Battle Fatigue should now be correctly applied to player pets in a PvP environment.
• Players placed into the opposite faction in a Rated Battleground should now be able to receive the quest, Battle Hardened.
• Fixed an issue where players can carry the incorrect faction flag in an Arena Skirmish.

Ashran

• Mercenary Mode should now be correctly enabled for the faction with the longer queue times.

Items

• Aviana's Feather should no longer incorrectly require the character to have obtained Draenor Pathfinding in order to function on Draenor.
• Felfume Cloth Armor 4-piece set bonus for damage dealers should no longer incorrectly trigger from Polymorph.
• Tiny Abomination in a Jar no longer incorrectly has a chance to trigger from extra Blade Flurry hits.

Bug Fixes

• The flight path offered by Tina Kelatara to take players from Warspear Outpost back to Stormshield Hold should no longer go through a wall.
• [Hotfix in testing] Fixed an issue where Seer Kazal could sometimes not appear correctly in the Garrisons of new level 100 characters.

Class

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Mistweaver
  
  • Healing Sphere no longer has an excessively loud sound effect.

Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)

• Discipline
  
  • Divine Aegis should no longer have its damage absorption reduced by an incorrect amount through Battle Fatigue.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Racials
Did they forget to buff Touch of the Grave? Its still doing the same amount of damage it was before the patch.
We'll look into it. (CM_Lore)

Bugs
what's up with bladestorm? Animation is borked since 6.2.2. Dwarf. Spins once and then stops moving at all until it's complete.
Thanks, I'll pass it on. (CM_Lore)

PvP
why would you nerf anything when it comes to teams that qualified already on a different state of the game? makes no sens
As stated before, we will do what we feel is right for the game but try to accomodate timing when possible. (holinka)
Good players adapt and overcome to shifts in a game's meta. This is the nature of esports. (holinka)

to change the game a lot after the qualifiers for regionals,all the teams are locked and vulnerable to nerfs
I can't speak for other games. We are only concerned about doing what is best for World of Warcraft. (holinka)
Last year there was a new patch before regional's & I believe they played on the old? #Blizzcon
Incorrect. We stayed on Mists for Blizzcon. (holinka)
you are mistaking Regionals for Blizzcon. 6.0 came out after regionals, before Blizzcon. (holinka)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Developer Communication
but having something like that even once every few weeks makes a huge difference.
I don't know that I agree. On WoW, it might make the paladins happy but then the shaman wondered when it was "their turn." (OccupyGStreet)
I can see that issue. I'd still rather 'somebody' got a turn than nobody. My view may not be consistent with forums overall
If you have say 20 devs engaging it may not be an issue. (OccupyGStreet)
And I have been at two of the largest studios out there, which couldn't produce 20. But I can dream! (OccupyGStreet)

Poll - Flying Achievement
Now that flying is here, it is time to see how many of you are ready to fly! We last looked at this a few weeks ago and it was a pretty even split.

Stats on the overall number of players that have earned the achievement are coming within the next week or so.

Overwatch Beta - Still on Track for Fall 2015
There was some excitement recently after an email went out to contest winners about Overwatch beta, but Blizzard confirmed it isn't starting this week and is still on track for Fall 2015.

Dark Legacy Comics #502 - Worgen
DLC #502 has been released.

Timewarped Badge Rewards, September 2 Hotfixes, Tweets, GW2 Base Game Free to Play

September 2, 2015, 10:48 pm

≫ Next: Timewalking Reward Costs, Accolade Trinkets and PvP Gearing, Tweets, Wildstar F2P

≪ Previous: Patch Downtime, Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 1, Tweets, Flying Poll, DLC #502

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Reddit Q&A Round-up

Brawl: It's Raining Mana, Season Issues Update, CDC Finalist Voting, Headed to Legend S18

Rotation for Sept. 1, 2015, Upcoming Shop Sales, Kharazim Cost Reduction and Lore

Patch 6.2.2 - Timewarped Badge Rewards
The developers confirmed the mount is intended to take a long time to earn.

Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 2

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Raids and Dungeons
Siege of Orgrimmar

• Spoils of Pandaria
  
  • Spoils of Pandaria can now be started by 1 player (down from 5) on Raid Finder difficulty.

PvP
General

• Winning an Arena Skirmish match now award 40 Honor Points and 25 Conquest Points (up from 20 Honor Points). Skirmishes continue to award bonus Honor if a match goes on for an extended period of time.
• [Hotfix in testing] Mercenary Mode is now only available to level-100 characters.

Bug Fixes

• A number of Gnomish NPCs should no longer be unfashionably early in dressing up for Feast of Winter Veil.
• Fixed an issue with a patch of ocean between Tanaan Jungle and Ashran that could cause characters to disconnect if they fly or swim over it.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Is timewarped gear ment to scale with your level? Warped gear i got at lv70, is still lv70 gear even tho i'm 100 now.
No, Timewarped gear scales to your current level when created, but remains fixed there. (WarcraftDevs)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Developer Communication
How about this question instead: "what can developers do if they actually care about engaging meaningfully with (at least some section) of their playerbase?"
Great question.

Let me say first that I don't want to come off across as the grandmaster of this shit. I make a ton of mistakes.

1) Don't come across as arrogant. This is really hard because you do want to come across as confident. Players don't want to hear that you really have no idea what you're doing. I try to couch things in terms of intentions or goals rather than promises or certainties. I try not to take myself too seriously.

2) Show empathy. Chances are the players are engaging because your game is important to them. Their idea or suggestion may be ridiculous. It might ruin the game. That doesn't matter. You still need to put yourself in their shoes and understand *why* they are saying what they are saying. This can be as simple as acknowledging that the player is upset. Being upset is a totally valid way for them to feel! Players are often better at detecting problems than they are at suggesting solutions. Try and understand the problems they are trying to solve. But at the same time, don't dismiss or belittle their suggestions, even if they aren't feasible.

3) Build trust. This can take a long time and unfortunately can erode quickly. But if you have a reputation then players will often forgive the mistakes that you are almost invariably going to make.

4) Be authentic. This is a great way to build trust. Be as honest as you can. Don't leak information or throw colleagues under the bus, but otherwise try and be transparent about your reasoning. Admitting mistakes here can help a lot.

5) Don't get sucked into arguments. Yeah, I know: sometimes people on the internet are wrong. But it's not your job to win arguments. It's your job to communicate with players. If something has gone back and forth a couple of times, it may be time to move on.

6) Stick to higher ground. This one is tough, but the fact is you are in a position of power since you are the one working on the game. If you pick on a player, even if they made an abusive comment and totally deserve it, you are going to come across as a bully. If you insult someone who insulted you, it's only your comment that will get quoted across the internet.

7) Be transparent about the process. You don't want to convey that your opinion is set in stone, but you also don't want to suggest that it's up to player vote (unless it is). The way I try and describe it is that developers want to make informed decisions. The players provide the information, but the development team makes the final call.

8) Don't get addicted. This is a mistake I see a lot of developers make who are new to community interaction, and no doubt I did it myself on my first job. Having players hang on your every word can be exciting. Making someone happy by promising a change can be rewarding. Just be careful. It's easy to over-promise. It's easy to neglect your day-to-day responsibilities by trying to be too responsive to player engagement. Players would rather have you for a year than every hour for only a week.

Road to BlizzCon – Watch the Americas Regionals Live September 12–13

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Eight teams have qualified for the 2015 World of Warcraft Arena Americas Regionals tournament—one from Latin America, one from Australia and New Zealand, and six from North America. On September 12 and 13, three of those teams will advance to the WoW Arena World Championship at BlizzCon 2015 . . . and five will be heading back home.

You’ll be able to watch the carnage unfold live on Twitch.tv/WoW on September 12 and 13 at 12 p.m. PT—but in the meantime, let’s meet the contenders who’ve risen through the ranks over the past few months

Guild Wars 2 - Base Game Free to Play
ArenaNet made the base Guild Wars 2 game free to play over the weekend! You will still need to purchase the new Heart of Thorns expansion if you want to play the new content, but you can still play the base game for free without purchasing it. You can see the different account restrictions in the official FAQ.

Timewalking Reward Costs, Accolade Trinkets and PvP Gearing, Tweets, Wildstar F2P

September 4, 2015, 2:52 am

≫ Next: Dragoncon 2015 Recap, September 4 Hotfixes, Blue Tweets, Rexxar Spotlight, Final Boss

≪ Previous: Timewarped Badge Rewards, September 2 Hotfixes, Tweets, GW2 Base Game Free to Play

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Update (6:30 PM EDT): Moonkin form will be updated after all!
Update (3:45 PM EDT): Added some additional information about Survival Hunters and Prospecting.
Update (1:00 PM EDT): Added a summary of the Dragoncon panel.

Helltooth Lag Fixes, Reddit Q&A Recap, Barbarian Guides Thread, Kanai's Legendary Rolls

Nozdormu Jousting Bug has been Hotfixed, Hearthstone Loot Crate Goodies

Eternal Conflict Ending on Sep 8th, Hero League Changes, Sylvanas Hotfix Deployed, Epic Plays of the Week #44

Dragoncon 2015
TheCrafticus was at Dragoncon and talked about Legion! MMO-Central and Elvine were also there and live tweeted the whole thing.

Classes

• Demon Hunters are starting at Level 98 right now.
• Death Knights will continue to start at Level 55.
• Demon Hunters will have a short transform, with inner demon visuals.
• Only Demon Hunters will be able to use glaives.
• Double jump won't be disabled anywhere.
• Survival Hunters will get a Harpoon ability that allows them to throw a spear to pull mobs towards them.
• Most specs are getting overhauled, tweaking them to fit the fantasy of the spec. Some will be renamed.
• Some specs will use a renamed resource, such as Insanity for Shadow Priest.
• The sewer class hall for Rogues looks great, not really like a sewer at all. It will have treasure chests.
• No big update is planned for the Moonkin model, maybe some small tweaks.
• No new major glyphs will be added.
• No Gnome hunters yet, maybe when it makes sense to add them.

Professions

• There will be a "single system" to upgrade profession items. The current item will be destroyed, giving you a reagent needed for the upgrade (Obliterium).
• A new team will be working on professions this time, including profession quest lines.
• Professions will get some crafting items from dungeon loot.
• Professions won't have daily cooldowns.
• Prospecting could make a return.

Transmog / Items / Stats

• If the new transmog system is account wide, the item must be usable by the class trying to use it.
• No tabard tab is currently planned, but the new transmog system should help to clear up some space.
• Multistrike is being removed and other secondary stats will have changes as well.
• Players can still only equip three profession crafted items.
• There won't be specific item art for each race and class, as Artifact weapon art is the priority.

Misc

• Dungeons will absolutely be relevant again.
• Illidan is ready to lead Demon Hunters against the Burning Legion.
• The Park in Stormwind won't be repaired yet.
• There are plans for Jaina.
• The backpack might be updated.
• Warlords was not a filler expansion and built some things that will be used going forward.

Timewalking Reward Costs

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

They already tweeted a pretty stand-pat stance about this. Their claim is it's "meant to take dedication". I'm not expecting any type of change until after BlizzCon at the earliest.
One of the problems with Twitter as a medium is the lack of space for nuance. There are hundreds of mounts in WoW, and they are obtainable by a wide variety of different means. Some are simple to get, and cheaply bought off vendors; some require great feats of skill like Gladiator and current Mythic raid mounts; some require tremendous luck (e.g. the Elegon mount); and some require long-term effort (e.g. the Violet Proto-Drake from A Long Strange Trip, or Darkmoon Faire prizes).

Ultimately they are all cosmetic rewards, and Timewalking is designed to be an evergreen system that we will be expanding over the years. Unlike, say, a Tanaan rep mount that clearly was designed to be earned within the scope of this patch, there will be people doing Timewalking (especially as more dungeons, and more expansions' content get added) throughout the future of WoW, and this represents a long-term goal within that framework.

If you want to rush through dozens of Timewalking dungeons in a short timeframe to be one of the first to get the mount, and you'd find that experience satisfying, then by all means do so. But I certainly wouldn't say that's the intended approach here. The 500-Badge quest turn-in is a once-per-event thing (which we definitely could have made clearer), so if you want to take a more measured pace and just do the Timewalking quest each time the event comes around while you happen to otherwise actively be playing, you can get the mount with just a few total hours spent (though over a longer period of real time). It's up to you. In the meantime, there are other items (notably some great alt catch-up gear) available through the system, and those are much more attainably priced.

Accolade Trinkets and PvP Gearing

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

We do not plan to put the random-stat Accolade trinkets on the vendors.

However, we did uncover a bug that was causing them to provide twice the secondary stat bonus than was intended. That bug was corrected in patch 6.2.2.

Frankly (speaking for myself as a player, and not for the development team), I'm not convinced that the Accolade trinkets are all they're cracked up to be.

The Wild Gladiator's Accolade of Dominance provides 403 Intellect and 403 Versatility in PvP combat. The Insignia provides 469 Versatility and a 20-second 1330 Intellect proc. In sustained combat, it tends to proc around every 60 seconds, giving it roughly a 33% uptime for an average benefit of ~440 Intellect.

Combine that with the fact that you have to actually be damaging someone for it to proc (which increases the effective uptime by cutting out sections where you're not hitting anyone) and the increased burst potential by allowing you to use your hardest-hitting abilities while it's active... and I'd argue that for the vast majority of players the proc trinket is easily better.

Granted, you might want a different secondary stat which isn't available on the Insignia. In that case I would argue that the difference between 469 Versatility and, lets say, 403 Mastery would be EXTREMELY minor at best.

I could also see an argument for those who are playing Humans, in which case you'd likely be comparing the Accolades to the Badges (the on-use trinkets) instead of the Insignias. As you can probably imagine, buffing Humans isn't exactly high on our priority list at the moment.

All that said, I won't pretend for a second that I'm the best Arena player, and these are obviously just my personal opinions. I'm just not seeing what makes the Accolade trinkets so incredibly attractive that they're absolutely mandatory to the point that it's worth doing content you don't enjoy for a chance to get hold of one.

I'm not really defending RNG PvP gearing, and I think the actions the development team has taken since 6.2 released speak pretty well to say that the devs aren't happy with the way it worked initially either. And I totally understand why it's frustrating that those actions aren't extending to the Accolade trinkets. All I'm saying is that, if you really don't like Ashran, just don't do it. There are other trinket options, and they're -- at worst -- still pretty good.

EDIT: I should also mention again that I'm really only speaking on behalf of myself and the way I enjoy the game. Just trying to have a conversation here.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

If you talk about "bad people on the internet", what kind of people do you refer to? Those who are critical? Those who threaten?
Those who cross a line. No one minds critique. (holinka)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Hey GC, got any thoughts on Health of the Game vs Player enjoyment? I always feel bad about Cata heroic difficulty caving.
I could write volumes on this. Players respect sticking by your guns to an extent, but at some point it becomes out of touch. (OccupyGStreet)

Developer Communication
Is there substantial data to suggest that dev/player communication results in higher sales and retention?
No, I don't believe so, which is why it is so controversial inside studios, e.g. Valve doesn't seem to value it much. (OccupyGStreet)

miss the dev watercooler that blizz did to keep peeps informed. was concise and it came from one source. was that your idea?
I can't recall. I worked on it a lot with Bashiok and Zarhym. (OccupyGStreet)
Do you remember how many hours of discussion, drafting, revision and review went into each one, on average?
I tend to write very fast, which is why I can do all of this. (OccupyGStreet)
A blog might take 2 hours depending on topic. No idea on editing. (OccupyGStreet)

Poll - What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been
The post covering rewards talked about the What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been achievement and mount, so we decided to see how active players are doing towards obtaining the Violet Proto-Drake. Only 15.8% of players have earned the achievement! Have you completed the achievement yet?

WildStar Free to Play Launches September 29
The new Free to Play version of the game, WildStar: Reloaded, is coming later this month!

Dragoncon 2015 Recap, September 4 Hotfixes, Blue Tweets, Rexxar Spotlight, Final Boss

September 5, 2015, 4:52 am

≫ Next: Legion CE Mount - Illidari Felstalker, Darkmoon Faire Updates, Blue Tweets, DLC #503

≪ Previous: Timewalking Reward Costs, Accolade Trinkets and PvP Gearing, Tweets, Wildstar F2P

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Death's Breath Farming Builds for WD and DH, Bounty Speed Farming Crusader, Rank #1 DH

Nozdormu Jousting Bug has been Hotfixed, Hearthstone Loot Crate Goodies

Eternal Conflict Ending on Sep 8th, Hero League Changes, Sylvanas Hotfix Deployed, Epic Plays of the Week #44

Dragoncon 2015
TheCrafticus was at Dragoncon and talked about Legion! MMO-Central and Elvine were also there and live tweeted the whole thing.

Classes

• Demon Hunters are starting at Level 98 right now.
• Death Knights will continue to start at Level 55.
• Demon Hunters will have a short transform, with inner demon visuals.
• Only Demon Hunters will be able to use glaives.
• Double jump won't be disabled anywhere.
• Survival Hunters will get a Harpoon ability that allows them to throw a spear to pull mobs towards them.
• Most specs are getting overhauled, tweaking them to fit the fantasy of the spec. Some will be renamed.
• Some specs will use a renamed resource, such as Insanity for Shadow Priest.
• The sewer class hall for Rogues looks great, not really like a sewer at all. It will have treasure chests.
• The Moonkin model will be updated.
• No new major glyphs will be added.
• No Gnome hunters yet, maybe when it makes sense to add them.

Professions

• There will be a "single system" to upgrade profession items. The current item will be destroyed, giving you a reagent needed for the upgrade (Obliterium).
• A new team will be working on professions this time, including profession quest lines.
• Professions will get some crafting items from dungeon loot.
• Professions won't have daily cooldowns.
• Prospecting could make a return.

Transmog / Items / Stats

• If the new transmog system is account wide, the item must be usable by the class trying to use it.
• No tabard tab is currently planned, but the new transmog system should help to clear up some space.
• Multistrike is being removed and other secondary stats will have changes as well.
• Players can still only equip three profession crafted items.
• There won't be specific item art for each race and class, as Artifact weapon art is the priority.

Misc

• Dungeons will absolutely be relevant again.
• Illidan is ready to lead Demon Hunters against the Burning Legion.
• The Park in Stormwind won't be repaired yet.
• There are plans for Jaina.
• The backpack might be updated.
• Warlords was not a filler expansion and built some things that will be used going forward.

Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 4

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Raids and Dungeons
Timewalking

• Gundrak
  
  • Fixed an issue where the loot tables for Gal'darah and Eck the Ferocious got swapped while Timewalking.

PvP
General

• Fixed an issue where players were not transforming correctly into the opposite faction in Mercenary Mode.
• Players with the Mercenary Contract effect should now be able to use faction mounts while in an Arena Skirmish, Rated Arena match, or Rated Battleground.
• Fixed an issue where Rated Battleground faction auras were incorrectly applied while in the Arena.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where some characters were unable to complete bonus objectives.

Legion - Moonkin Model Update

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Sounds like there’s been a misunderstanding somewhere here. Our current plan is that Moonkin Form will indeed receive a high-res model update in Legion.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

PvP
What's your favorite thing about PVP? What first attracted you to it? What keeps you playing it? (holinka)

Heroes of the Storm - Rexxar Spotlight
Blizzard shared a Rexxar spotlight video today!

Final Boss #94 - Avoidance Tanks
Final Boss talked to some avoidance tanks last week!

Legion CE Mount - Illidari Felstalker, Darkmoon Faire Updates, Blue Tweets, DLC #503

September 6, 2015, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: Patch 6.2.2 - Eclipse Dragonhawk, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Release, FinalBoss #95

≪ Previous: Dragoncon 2015 Recap, September 4 Hotfixes, Blue Tweets, Rexxar Spotlight, Final Boss

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Death's Breath Farming Builds for WD and DH, Bounty Speed Farming Crusader, Rank #1 DH

Popular Constructed Decks of the Week, How Good is Murloc Knight?

Eternal Conflict Ending on Sep 8th, Hero League Changes, Sylvanas Hotfix Deployed, Epic Plays of the Week #44

Legion Collector's Edition Mount - Illidari Felstalker
The Illidari Felstalker is the Legion Collector's Edition Mount. Keep in mind that while it is flagged as a flying mount, there are currently no specific flying animations, so it uses swimming animations. There is no official confirmation that it will be able to fly.

Patch 6.2.2 - Darkmoon Faire Updates
The Darkmoon Seesaw can be purchased from Gelvas Grimegate for 50 x Darkmoon Prize Ticket. You can jump on while Lunk is still riding to get launched off and the Childlike Wonder buff, which shrinks you by 33%.

Don't forget to take a look at the new fishing related things that were added in Patch 6.2 if you haven't already.

Be sure to pick up WHEE! from the Darkmoon Carousel or the buff from Darkmoon Top Hat for extra reputation if you are still doing the Tanaan Daily quests!

Demon Hunter Art
Some Demon Hunter themed art by Chris Robinson was posted on THU's Facebook page.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Are the drops from the new rare elite ogres in Nagrand a "once per day" thing? @WarcraftDevs
Per character, yes (Muffinus)

Mercenary's Medallion of Adaptation has half the versatility of the other pvp trinkets, bug or intended?
It's base ilevel is lower but its PvP ilevel is on par with other honor trinkets. (holinka)

Dark Legacy Comics #503
DLC #503 has been released!

Patch 6.2.2 - Eclipse Dragonhawk, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Release, FinalBoss #95

September 7, 2015, 10:20 pm

≫ Next: September 8 Hotfixes, Mobile Authenticator Updated, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Trailer

≪ Previous: Legion CE Mount - Illidari Felstalker, Darkmoon Faire Updates, Blue Tweets, DLC #503

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Death's Breath Farming Builds for WD and DH, Bounty Speed Farming Crusader, Rank #1 DH

Popular Constructed Decks of the Week, How Good is Murloc Knight?

Rexxar Tomorrow, New Reporting Options, Dustin Browder Tweets, Eyes on the Storm #42

Patch 6.2.2 - Eclipse Dragonhawk
The Eclipse Dragonhawk is one of the two Timewalking mount rewards.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

The new petbattle-weekly is bad boring/bland reward and trivial/grindy task. It's another "thing you need to do every week".
What would you prefer? (Muffinus)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Over catering to the "casual" is the reason for guild and friendship drops in WoW? From 1 - LFR = I don't socialize.
Server identity eroded over time, which can hurt social experiences, but that started with transfers and faster leveling. (OccupyGStreet)

Heroes of the Storm - Rexxar Release Tomorrow and Upcoming Changes
Blizzard announced Rexxar will be released tomorrow! They also announced reporting changes, a silence penalty, and some other new information.

Going forward, you will be able to report players for Abusive Chat, Feeding, being AFK, Cheating, Inappropriate Names, and Spam. Players that are reported for Spam or Abusive Chat will be investigated and then silenced for 24 hours. The silence duration will double each time after that, with no cap. Get all of the details on Heroes Nexus.

Final Boss #95 - Healers of the Light
Final Boss covered Holy/Disc Priests and Holy Paladins in the latest episode.

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September 8 Hotfixes, Mobile Authenticator Updated, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Trailer

September 9, 2015, 4:11 am

≫ Next: Legion Dev Interview, Tweets, Heroes eSports Site, Diablo II Development Recap

≪ Previous: Patch 6.2.2 - Eclipse Dragonhawk, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Release, FinalBoss #95

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T10 Support Monk, Helltooth Lag in Action

TAC #102 - Hanging with Kripp, Deck Spotlight: Turbo Reaver Mage, HSWC NA Quals

Rexxar Hero Trailer, Weekly Hero Rotation, Upcoming Shop Sales

Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 8

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Garrison
Shipyard

• [Requires a realm restart] Horde characters that have unlocked the carrier for their Shipyards should now be able to visit the carrier without having it phase out.
• Progress bars have been added to a number of naval achievements.
  
  • Naval Bonus Specialist/Expert
  • Naval Combat Specialist/Expert
  • Naval Siege Specialist/Expert
  • Naval Training Specialist/Expert
  • Naval Treasure Specialist/Expert

Bonus Events
Timewalking

• Fixed an issue where Frigid Timewarped Prism incorrectly required an account to be flagged for Warlords of Draenor to start or complete the quest, The Unstable Prism.

PvP
Mercenary Mode

• Fixed an issue where the score board would incorrectly display a character's original race.

Bug Fix

• Fixed an issue where newly created Goblin and Worgen characters were incorrectly receiving their racial abilities instead of learning them through the starting experience.

Battle.net Mobile Authenticator Updated

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app has recently been updated for both iOS and Android, and it’s been rebuilt from the ground up to make it faster, more efficient, and easier to use. You’ll also notice some extra shine and polish, including a brand-new design that displays a new piece of art from one of Blizzard’s games every time you load a code.

Android
Players using the iOS version will also now be able to use iCloud to make it easier than ever to back up and restore your Authenticator, streamlining the setup process whenever you need to recover or switch to a new device.

iOS
Don’t have an Authenticator on your account? Download the free Battle.net Mobile Authenticator application for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows devices here, or purchase a physical Battle.net Authenticator from the online Blizzard Gear Store. Visit the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator FAQ for more information, or head to the setup page to get started after you've downloaded the application.

For additional account security advice, check out our Account Security page.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

can anyone confirme that rares are only lootable once a day, even on TIMELESS ISLE? thanks^^
This is only the case from WoD onward and does not affect timeless isle outside of a few chests (Muffinus)

Just wondering, what are your thoughts about maybe an infinite dragonflight mount in the future?
Would be awesome, needs to make sense in context though (Muffinus)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

if developers are confined by budget restraints, and they can't talk about them publicly, can they ever be honest?
Being honest with players and having 100% transparency on all things are two different beasts. (OccupyGStreet)

wow is pretty tightly constrained by balance concerns. Wonder how wow might have developed without logs dbm or meters
Better. I think have all separately expressed frustration with the "Min/Max" obsession.
Yeah, when differences are 30%, I get it. (OccupyGStreet)
When the balance "problems" are 2%, it's time to pay attention to real problems. (OccupyGStreet)

AskMrRobot - Boss Art Survey
Our friends at AskMrRobot are running a survey to see which boss art players would like turned into pins and shirts.

Heroes of the Storm - Rexxar Trailer
Rexxar was released in today's patch, as was this trailer!

Legion Dev Interview, Tweets, Heroes eSports Site, Diablo II Development Recap

September 10, 2015, 12:51 am

≫ Next: September 10 Hotfixes, Method, Midwinter, Serenity, Flippable Table Easter Egg

≪ Previous: September 8 Hotfixes, Mobile Authenticator Updated, Tweets, Heroes - Rexxar Trailer

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Kanai's Cube FAQ, Season 4 Firebird's Wizard, Alkaizer Rend Barb Guide

Design Insights with Ben Brode - The Dark Side of Releasing New Content

E-Sports Heroes Website, Brawl With the Blues Rexxar, Weekly Rotation and Sales

Dev Interviews
Gamereactor recently published an interview from Gamescom. The highlights are below, but be sure to watch the full thing for additional context.

General

• The team is never sure if they are giving out too little, enough, or too much information.
• When sharing new information, the team has to consider if they are setting themselves up for trouble later on if they end up unable to do something they talked about previously.
• They have been trying to tie expansions together better, rather than having disconnected chunks of content. This is why Garrosh led us into Warlords and Gul'dan led us into Legion.
• Once the team had settled on the concept of Legion, they couldn't think of a better time to add Demon Hunters.
• The Tomb of Sargeras was the anchor for the Broken Isles. The places and cultures related to it were then considered. The Tomb was a temple to Elune, surrounded by Night Elf civilization. That felt like a good direction to go, especially after all of the Orcs.
• The complaints about Orcs didn't go unheard, but the team knew a change of pace was coming with Legion.
• The art team does a great job of designing art that captures the fantasy of each expansion. This time, there was the expansion reveal art, Illidan fighting Gul'dan, and some more art for Blizzcon. All of this art together defines the iconic look for the expansion.
• The team is looking at all of the player feedback to see what players are most excited about and affirming that they are on the right track.

Development Timeline

• Legion had been worked on for over a year before the announcement.
• The idea for Legion is several years old. The team was planning out several expansions and trying to decide the order of Legion and Warlords of Draenor back in 2012.
• There were already two zones in production at last year's Gamescom.
• The team is already well in process on the expansion after Legion.
• The internal alpha is still ongoing at the office in preparation for beta.

Quantity and Quality of Content

• Subscriber numbers will always fluctuate. The team tries to focus on making sure that players are happy, having fun, and excited about the game.
• When players feel like the team isn't doing a good enough job delivering content, the rate of content being added, the quality of content being added, or the type of content being added, that is what the team will focus on.
• There are a lot of things that influence subscriber numbers and some of them aren't under Blizzard's control.
• It is hard to look at World of Warcraft and say that the game isn't big enough or doesn't have enough stuff. It is a question of how the team uses the existing stuff, how replayable things are, how the progression and reward systems line up to create a satisfying experience, are players social enough, is there a good mix of single player and social activities. The way content is used is more important than the quantity produced.
• The team is committed to quality, but it can't come at the expense of quantity and getting things in player's hands. If the team is spending a long time to make something perfect and players are starving for content, that isn't doing the right thing.
• The team needs to give players a reason to keep playing the content that they enjoy, as well as giving them more to do.

Progression

• Progression is a huge part of the game. When progression is done well, the game does better and people are happier and having more fun.
• Players often say they have the most fun during the start of the expansion when there is so much to do. After that the progression options narrow, as the main focus is on increasing your item level. Artifacts are an alternative path that keep things interesting and relevant.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Please stop making digsites that are split in 2. Make them one big area, because this kind of thing...
FYI, this is a bug that is new to 6.2.2 - definitely not intended. http://t.co/fgy6KA7YAj (WatcherDev)

Are shipyard equipment plans now account wide? My most recent arrival in tanaan seems to have some unexpectedly unlocked.
They are indeed. (WarcraftDevs)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

I really have hard time believing that throwing money at artists won't solve the art issue. Even with high standards ..
Recruiting is a slow process as long as you value your company culture. Money can only speed that up so much. (OccupyGStreet)

Heroes of the Storm - eSports Site
Blizzard has launched a dedicated Heroes of the Storm E-Sports website, with schedule and news posts about the competitive scene, and a video explaining how the 2015 World Championship is structured.

Diablo II Development Recap
US Gamer has a nice interview with some of the Diablo II developers about the time they spent developing the game and Patch 1.10.

September 10 Hotfixes, Method, Midwinter, Serenity, Flippable Table Easter Egg

September 11, 2015, 12:04 am

≫ Next: Ko'ragh Solo Kill, Tweets, Americas Arena Regionals, 3D Printed Blackhand's Hammer

≪ Previous: Legion Dev Interview, Tweets, Heroes eSports Site, Diablo II Development Recap

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zDPS Exp Witch Doctor, Reimagined Wizard Fanart

Archon Team League Championships Grand Finals, Card Design Competition - Vanilla Extract

Upcoming Shop Updates, Cosplay Reference Kits, Epic and Hottest Plays of The Week #45

Patch 6.2.2 Hotfixes - September 10

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Creatures and NPCs
Tanaan Jungle

• Harbormaster Korak should no longer go into evade mode if more than one player is engaging him.

Raids and Dungeons
Hellfire Citadel

• Xhul'horac
  
  • Voidscribe Aathalos is no longer susceptible to Charm, Possess, or Banish effects.
  • Weaponlord Mehlkhior, and other creatures around Xhul'horac are now immune to Charm effects.
• Archimonde
  
  • All of the following Archimonde encounter changes requires a realm restart to take effect.
  • We have made a number of changes aimed at reducing the difficulty of the Archimonde encounter for smaller raid groups on Normal and Heroic difficulty, with a focus on the final phase of the encounter in particular. These changes are offset by increased scaling with respect to raid size, so that the experience for larger raid groups will be mostly unchanged.
    
    • Infernal Doombringer's health has been reduced by up to 15%.
    • Shadowed Netherwalker's health has been reduced by up to 15%.
    • Living Shadow's health has been reduced by up to 15%.
    • Reduced the damage of Wrought Chaos by up to 20%.
    • Reduced the damage of Shackled Torment by up to 20%.
    • Living Shadows now spawn from each Nether Tear at a reduced rate for smaller raid sizes.
  • Added a 3-second cooldown to the periodic healing of Eternal Flame, preventing Infernal Doombringers from healing other Infernal Doombringers until 3 seconds after spawning on all difficulties.
  • Archimonde's health has been reduced by 10% on Raid Finder difficulty.

Collections
Toy Box

• Will of Northrend's cosmetic transformation now persists and is usable in combat.

Items

• Timewalking 2-handed caster weapons now have bonus Spell Power equal to that of 1-handed caster weapons.
  
  • Bloodfire Greatstaff
  • Epoch-Mender
  • Grand Scepter of the Nexus-Kings
  • Spellfire Longsword
  • Staff of Polarities
  • Staff of Sinister Claws
  • Staff of Wayward Principles

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Vicious War Kodo and Vicious War Mechanostrider were not correctly converting into the opposite faction equivalent while performing a Faction Change.

Guild Changes - Method
Sco posted an update on what is happening to Method today.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

As you are probably aware already there are big changes happening in Method. There are a lot of issues at play that caused this, some more complex than others – a psychologist could probably write a novel on the situation. There has been a pretty bad atmosphere and strained relationships in Method, and while in the past the unified goal of pushing for world first has kept the guild together this is evidently no longer the case. In short a very basic summary of issues that caused separation;

• World of Warcraft, and more specifically hardcore raiding is in decline. There is a lack of competition; 2 Horse race versus Paragon each tier. The effort required to raid at a hardcore level (locked away for 2-3 weeks) is not necessarily enjoyed as much as it previously was.
• People are motivated to play by different factors and at various levels, as always external factors like money are involved.
• Lack of leadership. To state it plainly; the member’s faith in the officer team’s ability to lead due to motivation and drive wasn’t at its strongest. Over time there has been a ‘transfer of power’ between the officer team and the members. For example raid leading was done by Kuznam and certain other activities was being organised by members.
• Different views on the Method expansion inside and outside WoW.

These issues have split the guild over time and various cliques have sprung up along the way damaging the ‘one team one dream’ nature. Unfortunately key people such as Kuznam (raid leader), Pottm (organised a lot for T18), and a few others have decided they would rather start afresh in a new guild alongside those they closely associate with. The remaining members are left with a choice and to cut straight to the point, many members will obviously follow the raid leader which is understandable.

In regards to the future for Method; there is 0 intention of letting the Method guild die. We will use the resources at our disposal to rebuild the guild. I have already been speaking to people externally and I have no doubt we will get something good going. The approach to expansion release and next tier will remain hardcore raiding and while world first will obviously be a stretch depending on how many core members we lose, we will still be aiming for the highest rank achievable. With the way the current raiding scene is at the moment, we are also investigating the possibility of streaming the entire progression. Will let you guys know more when I know more. Thanks for your support.

Guild Changes - Midwinter
Slootbag and Furty are also moving from Midwinter to Serenity. An excerpt from Slootbag's statement is below:

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

These thoughts started to seed themselves very minorly in my head before we killed Blackhand as it was the most/hardest we ever raided, and that is one of the larger times when there started to be a divide in guild hours/capability/desire to raid etc. As that tier ended, and people voiced opinions, and we raided and concluded this tier, it had become clear to me that the large variance in the desire of hours raided was now a large divide between some people, myself being on one extreme of the spectrum.

I’ve been in Midwinter for 5 years now (I’m the second-most veteran member), since late WotLK, and since my joining in the guild I’ve been one of the (and at times the) largest advocate(s) of pushing harder, increasing hours, realizing a higher potential of the amazing team we have here. With bumps and bruises along the way this guild has grown into one of the biggest powerhouses in top-end PvE raiding and it is amazing. However, we’ve now reached a point where there is unfortunately now a large disconnect in my desire to go HAM af and the guild’s pace at which it will achieve its future rankings. I feel the need at this point in my raiding career to be able to raid with 20+ other individuals who can (or want) to share and dedicate that same amount of time until that final boss dies and push as hard as possible putting aside any obligation.

So while I wholeheartedly believe whatever the guild chooses to go with for raiding direction, it is not something I can participate in any longer. I love the people here and always will, but the suppressed feeling I have of wanting to push more has eaten away at me just too much, and if I were to go forward with it I would be doing the guild a disservice as likely my attitude and performance would start to show signs of deterioration. As a result my fun has just not been there as much, and has started to completely wane.

I wanted to wait until Midwinter finished a series of important guild meetings to go ahead with my decision as I wanted to hear every single person’s opinion and desire going forward, as this is what will shape the future of Midwinter. All of this has inevitably (for me) led to my decision that I will be retiring from Midwinter raiding and will be participating my MT duties over at Serenity, the large branch of Method now reformed (was actually Method when I made this post, but PvE IRL Cataclysm happened).

My options included joining another US guild or starting my own guild in the US. However the first option does not (currently) exist in the form of a hardcore 7-day progression guild currently, and the second option is something that is just too much work in my current time, as I’m still focusing on improving my stream.

New Guild - Serenity
Some members of Method are forming a new guild called Serenity. They released this statement to Manaflask.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Hello,
at this point it's no secret anymore that we've founded a new guild after leaving Method.
With this statement we'd like to briefly let you guys know about why we left and what our goals are for the future.

The reasons for leaving Method basically come down to 2 points:
1) Lack of leadership within the Method guild
2) Different opinions on the direction of the WoW PvE guild Method and the organisation Method

After a lot of talking on both matters, we weren't able to to get to common ground and couldn't find solutions that worked for both sides. This is why a majority of the PvE guild decided to start something fresh, completely cut off from the Method network and management.

With our goal is crystal clear. We will have our full focus on the World of Warcraft PvE race and are going to compete for #1 while still having a nice guild and raid atmosphere as it used to be in Method.

Flippable Table Easter Egg
Solsacradiscovered a fun easter egg with the Flippable Table. A little ghostly crab appears on the table occasionally when used by a Paladin!

Ko'ragh Solo Kill, Tweets, Americas Arena Regionals, 3D Printed Blackhand's Hammer

September 12, 2015, 3:32 am

≫ Next: Starcraft II - Legacy of the Void Cinematic, Artcraft Updates, Tweets, Poll

≪ Previous: September 10 Hotfixes, Method, Midwinter, Serenity, Flippable Table Easter Egg

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Hellfire Amulet Fix, Entrance Monsters Bug, Moldran Legendary Reforge

Archon Team League Championships Grand Finals, Card Design Competition - Vanilla Extract

Bot Reports and Bans, Lunar Tiger Removal, Heroes of the Storm WTF Moments #14

Ko'ragh Solo Kill
Wannoob has managed a solo kill of Normal Ko'ragh. It took over 100 attempts and an item level of 713 to get the kill. You can see more details in the video description.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Timewalking
is Ironbound Wraithcharger a WoD exclusive? or will it be obtainable a long while from now? should i be rushing to get asap?
The Timewalking rewards aren’t tied to this expansion – no need to rush! (WarcraftDevs)

Game Design
could either of you clarify the difference between creative and technical design from your perspectives?
Good question. I can't fit a good answer in a twitter post, so I wrote a quick blog on it: https://t.co/sao6zGnWPk (craig_amai)

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

but why did so many feel the need to server transfer? Cause playerbase dropped with cata overtuning. Servers healthy in wotlk
Not my recollection. In NA, PvP players move to Tich and raiders to Mal'ganis. That's where the action was. (OccupyGStreet)
In my memory, my server still had an identity (i.e. I knew individual players) in BC but not beyond. YMMV. (OccupyGStreet)

Were you consulted on things that had a dollar or pound/euro value behind them like server transfers, you know what I mean.
Yes. (OccupyGStreet)

Road to BlizzCon – Watch the Americas Regionals Live September 12–13

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Eight teams have qualified for the 2015 World of Warcraft Arena Americas Regionals tournament—one from Latin America, one from Australia and New Zealand, and six from North America. On September 12 and 13, three of those teams will advance to the WoW Arena World Championship at BlizzCon 2015 . . . and five will be heading back home.

You’ll be able to watch the carnage unfold live on Twitch.tv/Warcraft on September 12 and 13 at 12 p.m. PT—but in the meantime, let’s meet the contenders who’ve risen through the ranks over the past few months.

The Teams

Method
Under their original moniker "Is Butter a Carb," this was the first North American team to qualify, beating out Luminosity in the Grand Finals of the first North American Online Qualifier Cup back in July. Since then, the group has reunited under the Method banner to prove that their run in Cup 1 was no coincidence and that they deserve a spot in the World Championships at BlizzCon.

• Team Captain: Chanimal – Affliction/Demonology Warlock
• Gorecki – Restoration Shaman, Balance Druid, Beast Mastery Hunter, Affliction Warlock
• Rositajonez – Frost Mage
• Psytrix – Holy Paladin

Juveniles
This team claimed victory under the name "Rise of le Sock" in the second North American Online Qualifier Cup, and eliminated many well-known players to get here. As the only team in the Regionals with only three players on their roster—and only one playable composition—they must prove that numbers don’t make might if they want to advance to BlizzCon.

• Team Captain: Roastyz – Subtlety Rogue
• Wealthysockx – Frost Mage
• Kubzy – Restoration Druid

Tempo Storm
The name Tempo Storm has inspired fear in opponents in many eSports events, and the World of Warcraft Arena is no different. Tempo Storm has proven time and again that they’re a force to be reckoned with in online tournaments, but can they hold up under pressure at the Americas Regionals?

• Team Captain: Elite – Holy Paladin
• Pikaboo – Subtlety Rogue, Arms Warrior
• Jahmilli – Frost Mage, Subtlety/Combat Rogue, Shadow Priest, Enhancement Shaman
• Starship – Restoration Druid, Survival/Beast Mastery Hunter

Luminosity
Luminosity had a very competitive showing in NA Online Qualifier Cups 1 and 2, but it wasn’t until Cup 3 that they secured their position at Regionals. Now they’re out to prove that those defeats were merely a setback and that they’re destined for the Arena stage at BlizzCon.

• Team Captain: Vanguards – Enhancement Shaman, Retribution Paladin, Mistweaver Monk
• Maldiva – Affliction Warlock
• Smexxin – Arms/Fury Warrior
• Dannycarry – Restoration Druid, Mistweaver Monk

Dream Deferred
In the third NA Online Qualifier Cup, this team (previously named "World of Warcats") showed just how much of a threat they can be right out of the gates, scoring two wins in under 60 seconds. Are the other teams prepared for Dream Deferred’s opening onslaught?

• Team Captain: Blackjeff – Frost/Unholy Death Knight
• Beatsbydrake – Affliction/Demonology Warlock
• Sychzy – Feral Druid
• Vincentwong – Holy Paladin

FolloweSports.com
Formerly known as "Carlos’ Bandidos", this team fought to the bitter end to secure their spot, beating out Dream Team 3–2 in the third-place match at NA Online Cup 3. They’re going to need to keep that same determination and tenacity to fight through the other teams in the Americas Regionals.

• Team Captain: Absterge – Restoration Shaman
• Jellybeans – Beast Mastery Hunter
• Vosil – Affliction/Demonology Warlock
• Walterbare – Feral Druid

Hype
Hype (previously "Bang Bang AU") emerged victorious as the winners of the Australia & New Zealand qualifying tournament in July. Although these players are relatively unknown, they had an extremely solid showing in the qualifiers. How will they stack up against the best teams from the Americas?

• Team Captain: Nyz – Unholy Death Knight
• Oyx – Arms Warrior
• Ymcmshred – Restoration Druid
• Creepinbrah – Restoration Druid

Santos Dexterity
Santos Dexterity, originally known as "This is Brasil", dominated the Copa America, winning four out of five play days and not dropping a single game in the finals stage. Consistency was the name of their game, as they won every single game with their preferred composition of Enhancement Shaman, Affliction Warlock, and Restoration Druid.

• Team Captain: Rynd – Restoration Druid, Restoration Shaman, Holy Paladin
• Shapis – Affliction Warlock
• Murmindz – Enhancement Shaman, Shadow Priest
• Xadin – Arms Warrior

The Prizes
The teams at the Americas Regionals will be competing for their share of a massive $100,000 prize pool—the largest of any regional event in World of Warcraft history. Every team will receive a portion of that money, but the amount increases dramatically the further the teams advance through the tournament.

• 1st place team: $50,000
• 2nd place team: $20,000
• 3rd place team: $10,000
• 4th place team: $8,000
• 5th–6th place teams: $4,000
• 7th–8th place teams: $2,000

Of course, that’s not the only prize at stake. The top three teams will also advance to the WoW Arena World Championship at BlizzCon 2015, where they’ll join five more teams from around the world to compete for $250,000 in prize money.

The Event
The World of Warcraft Arena Americas Regionals will be broadcast live on Twitch.tv/Warcraft starting at 12 p.m. PT on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13. You won’t want to miss a second of the action.

Of course, an epic event needs an epic crew, and we’re pulling out all the stops with a collection of some of the best shoutcasters and analysts in the World of Warcraft Arena scene:

• Sid ’Supatease’ Compston
• Elliott ‘Venruki’ Venczel
• Jared ‘vhell’ Coulston
• Josh ‘Lore’ Allen
• Jackson ‘Bajheera’ Bliton

These guys will be talking spectators through every match, ensuring that you don’t miss any of the high-level strategic play we know we can expect from these amazing teams. We’ll see you there!

3D Printed Weapon - Blackhand's Hammer
Ceravyn shared a 3D Printer Blackhand's Hammer, similar to The Black Hand's model.

Starcraft II - Legacy of the Void Cinematic, Artcraft Updates, Tweets, Poll

September 13, 2015, 12:33 pm

≫ Next: Armory Stats - Flying Achievements, Arena Queue Length, Tweets, Poll, DLC #504

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Hardcore Builds Highlight - Crusader / Barbarian / Wizard, DH's Perspective on Speed GRs

Popular Constructed Decks of the Week, ATLC Jeoparino VoD, Archon Team League

Bot Reports and Bans, Lunar Tiger Removal, Heroes of the Storm WTF Moments #14

Starcraft II - Legacy of the Void Cinematic
Blizzard announced that Legacy of the Void will release November 10, 2015 along with the new cinematic today!

Artcraft Updates
We might get a followup to the old Cosmetic Class Accessories artcraft at some point in the future. They were originally described as ways to customize your character, rewarded through many different gameplay activities. Keep in mind that a somewhat similar system is coming with spec specific Artifact Weapons with multiple skins.

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler still occasionally talks about WoW. Remember that he no longer works for or speaks for Blizzard.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

No reason to exchange words, because we will most likely never meet ingame again. Thoughts?
The Finders were supposed to be for when your friends weren't available, not as a way to experience an MMO solo. (OccupyGStreet)
But the awesome convenience of quick matchmaking means why wait for friends? League has the same problem. (OccupyGStreet)

I think the game design philosophy changed to: Leveling = solo, PvP/Endgame = groups.
I remember in vanilla having to ask friends to help for the Plagueland cauldron quests and a few others. (OccupyGStreet)
But I think it's fair that a lot of people just abandoned the group quests even when they capped off a story. (OccupyGStreet)

Poll - Main Class in Legion
Now that you have had time to process the Demon Hunter excitement, what class will your main be in Legion?