Month: April 2010

Mastery System and PvP Balance
First, it's a powerful new tool, but it's by no means the only tool in the toolbox.

Second, higher health pools and survivability relative to damage means damage output won't be balanced on the same razor edge in Cataclysm as it is now. When increasing damage by 5% means you knock off 90% of a health pool in five seconds instead of 86%, that's pretty risky. When it means you knock off 40% of a health pool instead of 38%, that's not a real big balance changer. Numbers made up, but that's the general principle.

Third, a greater focus on large-scale PvP will also probably help moderate the effects of changes like this.
This.

Pretty sure PvP gear will have mastery.
And this. (Source)

Tanking is (not) hard!
'm just reading a lot of "tanking is so hard" threads, and A) we don't really agree, and B) if it's any less challenging I fear a lot of tanks may get bored and move on to other classes. There are some annoying parts of tanking we need to fix, and we definitely want to fix the threat scaling problem and any major disparities in AE tanking. But if you're looking for an experience even easier than tanking Naxx, I'm not quite sure how to provide that given my A and B above. (Source)

Faction equality on servers
The average alliance to horde ratio for Trollbane is 1.08:1. That doesn't take into account things like player participation, character level, interest in certain activities such as world PvP, etc. but the actual ratio is pretty much even.

We do what we can to encourage faction equality though. If any situations arise that require our intervention we do so. We've had realm transfers that only allow one faction to move, we've shut down character creation for a single faction. We have methods to help balance realms or even battlegroups and we do use them, for all US realms at current and especially in this case though I wouldn't characterize it as needing that level of intervention. (Source)

Arena Tournament in Europe
We will very soon be opening registration to a brand-new service for players with a European World of Warcraft account. The Arena Pass will give access to our special Arena Pass realm, designed to give you the perfect platform to prove your competitive abilities.

Players on this realm will have the freedom to equip pre-made level 80 characters with PVP gear of their choosing, including the latest Wrathful Gladiator Season 8 items.

Successful teams will be rewarded! Face enough challengers and you will receive the Murkimus pet, which can be shared with all other characters on your World of Warcraft account. The very best teams will also receive the exclusive Vanquisher title, which can be shared with your high-level characters. All will know of your mighty achievements!

Stay tuned for more information, including pricing, availability and other details, later this week! (Source)

Upgrading the original backpack
We think about this one all the time, be it an upgrade to the backpack, or making it replaceable by larger bags. We'd just have to be careful to not make it possible to have no bags equipped at any given time, because that would get messy. No guarantees on this one, but do know we're considering it. (Source)

Celestial Steed scaling
We acknowledge that the Celestial Steed can seem a little out of proportion when especially some of the bulkier races are riding it, and this is something that is being looked into. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
AE Tanking in Cataclysm
I didn't mean to imply that blowing Intimidating Shout is a swell idea on every AE pull. The context was a scenario that apparently comes up all the time where the warrior has recently used Thunder Clap and Shockwave and a whole lot of Morogrim-style adds pour into the room, leaving the hapless warrior without an AE button to push and solve the whole problem. I was pointing out that there are a lot of things you can do in that situation. Yes, if someone is about to die and you can't wait for Thunder Clap to come back up, then by all means use Intimidating Shout. That's what it's there for.

We're just not crazy about the sound of any of these ideas that have the warrior able to use Thunder Clap and have it tick away on the mobs or on the ground to make sure things will stick to you no matter what.

Warriors tanked for years without Shockwave and with a pretty wimpy Thunder Clap that only hit four adds. Yet, they still managed to handle a variety of fights, including this staggered adds situation that is the current hot topic button for this forum. I played a warrior tank a lot in that time period, and yeah, sometimes you lost aggro and sometimes you wiped. It's a lot easier today. I'm not trying to use one of these "back in my day, we tanked uphill in the snow" arguments, but I am trying to get a sense for how easy you really want tanking to be and still have fun doing it.

(Again, I'm totally bought into the argument that AE tanking on live may not be as easy for warriors as paladins and druids. I'm trying to establish how AE tanking should feel in an absolute, not a relative sense.) (Source)

We’re glad to announce that registration for the 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament is now open.

Now is the time to get your teammates together and get registered for the biggest online Arena competition World of Warcraft has to offer with a total cash pool of over $200,000!

The exclusive Armored Murloc in-game pet is an additional earnable reward for all participants, and members of the top 1000 teams will also be given an exclusive title for their eligible live characters as well.

If you have any questions or would like more details, please read the FAQ, and remember to check our tournament News Section for more updates: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/tournament/news.xml

What is the 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament?
The 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament is a competition based on the Arena System in World of Warcraft. All teams participating in the tournament will be competing on regional tournament realms — separate from the live realms — for a spot to play at the live events and win prizes. In addition, there is a registration fee to join. This specialized format provides a means for high-level players to face off in an intensely competitive environment that emphasizes strategy, skill, and execution over all other elements of play.

The tournament will consist of one regional qualifier, followed by the regional finals. Winners of the regional finals will be invited to compete in a global championship. The cash prize package for this tournament, including prizes awarded at the regional finals and world championship, amounts to more than $200,000.

What is the format for this year’s Arena Tournament?
Participating players will gain access to our dedicated tournament realms and be able to create up to three level-80 characters per registered account. This special realm will allow players to fully customize tournament characters with some of the best items available in the game. We will continue to use the 3v3 Arena format for this year's competition. Please note that the standard 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 Arena season games will continue as normal on the live realms and will not be interrupted by this tournament.

What are some special features of this year’s Arena Tournament?

• Customizable level 80 character templates with gear from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
• Tournament vendors have been updated with some of the best items available in Northrend.
• Players can earn the exclusive Armored Murloc pet for their live characters.
• Players can earn the exclusive “Vanquisher” title for their live characters over level 71.
• Cash prizes totaling over $200,000.

How do the dedicated tournament realms work?
By signing up for the tournament, players will be granted access to special tournament realms. They will be able to create up to three new level-80 characters of any race and class combination on these realms. There will be special vendors available who will have epic gear for players to choose from for equipping tournament characters. These realms have been created for the sake of the tournament and will not have any PvE instances or Battlegrounds available. Only Arenas will be available at this time.

How will each character obtain gear and other commodities?
Upon entering the world with a new character, nearby NPCs in your starting area will outfit the character with gear, training, class-specific needs such as soul shards and hunter pets, and all the gold you'll need. In fact, everything your character will need to participate in the tournament will be located conveniently in your starting area.

Can I have more than three people on my team roster?
Yes. You can have up to six players on your 3v3 Arena Tournament team for the online qualifiers. The additional players will act as "bench" players in case one of your starting three cannot play, or if you want to change the makeup of your team. If your team advances to the live events, however, you will have to choose three players to represent your team. These players can choose which characters they wish to play at the live events and may switch characters as needed.

How do I check my rankings?
Team rankings will be available on WorldofWarcraft.com at the Armory and updated daily, with the tournament realm making up the Coliseum battlegroup.

How is the tournament structured?
There will be one online qualifier that will run for eight weeks. The first four weeks of the qualifier will be used for practice. After the practice period, ratings will be reset and the tournament will continue for four weeks. To encourage team stability, there will be a 150 team rating penalty for any player additions to your team during the first two weeks after the practice period. Player rosters will be locked down during the final two weeks of the tournament, and no changes may be made to your team during that time. Please make any adjustments to your final team roster prior to the roster lockdown. The top eight eligible teams from the online qualifier will advance to the regional finals. The top teams from each regional final will be invited to represent their respective region at the global world championship.

What are the prizes?
The available prizes are listed below:

• Players who participate in at least 50 rated tournament games on one character and with the same team during the last four weeks of the online qualifier will be eligible for the Armored Murloc pet for their live characters.
• Players who have a character in one of the top 1000 teams and have participated in at least 100 rated tournament games during the last four weeks of the online qualifier will receive the “Vanquisher” title for their live characters level 71 and over.
• The grand prize for the global invitational world championship will be $75,000 for the top team. The top team of each regional final will receive $15,000. For more information, check the complete breakdown of prizes in the rules.
• Please Note: The characters that players use to qualify for the above prizes must play all of their qualifying games on the same team and must remain on that team for the duration of the tournament. If a player leaves their team at any time, it may void their eligibility by resetting the number of games needed to be played. The live characters players wish to receive the in-game prizes must be on the same account as the one registered for the tournament.

How many games do I have to play to be eligible to qualify?
Each team must play a minimum of 100 rated games during the last four weeks of the qualifier and each player, including "bench players," must participate in at least 30% of the team's total games to be eligible to advance to the regional finals. If a team were to play the minimum of 100 games, then each player on the team would have to have played in at least 30 of those games. Only three players per team will be eligible to attend the live events.

Why is there an entry fee to join the 2010 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament?
There are several reasons for the entry fee, one of which being that, as with most professional tournaments, the fee helps ensure that participants are invested in the competition and remain dedicated to it for the duration of the tournament. In addition, the stakes are higher for this tournament than for standard Arena play, with a total prize pool of more than $200,000 in cash prizes up for grabs. Furthermore, this format should help provide high-level players with an intensely competitive, even playing field on the tournament realms.

Arena Tournament 2010 Starting Date
The realms will open on April 27 with the launch of the tournament. (Source)

Arena Tournament 2010 Rewards
The pet and title are the same as for the 2009 tournament. The only difference is in the way loot codes are now applied to World of Warcraft licenses. Once the code is applied to an account, all characters on that license should receive the pet, including characters that have yet to be created. (Source)

[…] While it would be cool to provide a new pet, we're not necessarily trying to encourage as many people as possible to pay $20 and sign up for this tournament ultimately because they want a new pet. It's a nice perk to encourage people, but we don't want the Arena Tournament to be a more complicated version of the Pet Store. We want players who are serious about competing to sign up for the tournament, not just a reason to take in more money through offering a new vanity pet with each new tournament. (Source)

Celestial Steed, where is the line?
This is a very fine, but determined line. The purpose of allowing the Celestial Steed to scale with your riding skill is so that it can be useful to anyone in the game, but does not provide one with a better mount from a gameplay standpoint. ([url=http:/…