Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsForum post of the day: Moving moments
by Amanda Dean 
Jul 10th 2008 at 2:45AM
Since its inception World of Warcraft has been an evolving game. Someone who played only shortly after release would hardly recognize the game now. Blizzard has always welcomed feedback, but some changes have elicited more feedback than others. In a thread entitled "Epic moments in WoW QQ history," Gatsukaa chronicled some of the most upsetting events that have occurred in the evolution of our game:
WoW is first released. Hunter and warlock pets could be one-shot. Hunter dps was pretty lackluster. Soulstones gave you rez sickness (I think). No soulshards from PvP. The first emo whiners in WoW were born: Hunters and Warlocks. World of Roguecraft video is released showing how a rogue in crap gear could wtfpwn people while warlocks were so gimp. Result is that warlocks went on to get buffed in nearly every patch as they were on their way to god-hood. No more world of roguecraft videos. Hunters saw substantial improvements as well, but weren't made into demigods.
Moment 2:
Mages with both Talisman of Ephemeral Power and Zandalarian Hero Charm could stack the trinkets' on-use effects to drastically increase spell damage. Coupled with Arcane Power and PoM Pyro, such mages could one shot almost anyone. Massive QQ on the forums ensues. Result is that trinkets no longer stack such on-use effects (one exception was a glitch that allowed Hex Shrunken Head and Skull of Gul'dan to stack, but that was later fixed).
Moment 3:
Before Burning Crusade, the best PvP gear was PvE gear. Raiders in tier 2 and tier 3 gear ruled the Battlegrounds. Massive QQ from casuals ensued. Result was resilience and arena gear without any rating requirement for the first few seasons in TBC.
Moment 4:
TBC is released. About a month later as most people hit 70 and begin running level 70 five mans and heroic dungeons, it becomes apparent that druids are one of the best tanks if not THE best tanks for 5 mans. Massive warrior QQ ensues. Result is that druid tanking is drastically nerfed..
Moment 5:
Alterac Valley is redesigned. Suddenly, Horde are winning on average 80% of AV games on most servers based on forum estimates. Massive alliance QQ ensues.
Moment 6:
Blizzard toys with the idea of nerfing lifetap on the PTR. Before the nerf is even implemented on the PTR, massive warlock QQ ensues. Result is that the change is never implemented on the PTR and thus never got patched into the actual game.
Now yes, this thread could be seen as a troll on the forums. When you take a step back, though, it's actually kind of fascinating to look at where we've been. These are examples of Blizzard taking action on common complaints. There have been plenty of other events that have caused a stir, but we've since learned to live with.
I remember when cross-realm battlegrounds first started. By the way players were complaining you would have thought it was the end of the world... of Warcraft, or at least PvP. I was a little miffed at first, and there are still man problems, mostly on a social level. But I remember hour-long WSG queues prior to the shift. I'd go to dinner and ask one of my guildies to call my cell phone if the queue popped. I don't miss that.
Think of all the incidents when they've implemented player requests. We have flying mounts now, though they are admittedly limited. Horde got Paladins, and
What did Gatsukaa miss in her list of player demanded changes?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Buffs, Forums, Forum Post of the Day
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Tenchan Jul 10th 2008 1:29PM
Moment 2.5:
'QQ' becomes popular. Everything else pales in comparison. The ability to communicate properly goes rapidly downhill.
STereo Jul 10th 2008 2:08PM
What did she miss? Hmmm... Hunters have been broken in pvp/arena - all 3 arena brackets for all 4 seasons. Blizz has not fixed it (altho they made a couple of poorly thought out attempts) and it has persisted thru the entire run of TBC
Rob Jul 10th 2008 2:53PM
I love BG's and hate Arena. As a hunter I smile whenever I hear that we struggle in arena and need help. That means my BG's fun will continue for a while to come with no foreseeable nerfs. And probably some more buff's too so Blizz can make us happier.
jd Jul 10th 2008 3:08PM
RE: AV - What is vengeance? The AV bottlenecks besides the 5 afk players scattered around in stealth mode.
Narrow Bottlenecks.
1. North Dun Bunker lip of bridge. Flare it. Slow it. Archers will assist
2. FWK - lower end of hill just outside Keep Towers. Flare it. Slow it. Archers will assist.
At the above a 1v1 battle will usually be won be the defender.
Broad Bottle necks.
1. Between IW and SHGY
2. Between IB and IBGY
It takes 5-10 defenders to make this bottleneck effective.
FWGY is not a bottleneck at all. It can easily be passed with the alt tabed gy defenders not even noticing. This is a common Horde flaw thinking they are doing something useful at FWGY when the ally have already rolled by and are at the RH.
I think the new AV is fine. Battlegroup distribution queues are the problem. I was ally and every AV was 40 horde and 20 ally. I went to a different battlegroup leveled a horde and guess what every AV was 40 ally and 20 horde. Blizzard doesn't have the queuing working correctly.
Also being on D has fewer rewards in AV. Most seasoned AV players know a few people will take and defend 3-4 honor buildings and then the rest of the crew in AV is getting HK's. My personal BG points are much higher if I just stay with the large group and forget about doing anything with a GY or a tower or a bunker. I just need the quickest AV possible and then go into another one. If you are on D you will spend more time in ghost form then the rest of the team.
jd Jul 10th 2008 3:08PM
For the AoC fans. Tried it. Hated it. It is just a fancier version of the gameplay of Guildwars. In other words it has none. You play the game in a maze. A uni-directional effort. And they advertise free gameplay on the box. What the fine print says is that it's only after you pay them $100. Bad Marketing, Bad Bad game.
jd Jul 10th 2008 3:08PM
Mages are the most gimped unsurvivable class in the game. I can chase down every mage in the game in AV and attack him at my choosing. Blink and iceblock just delay the inevitable. Iceblock is just a temporary tomb while we wait for the mage to die. The mage can only blink forward. Rogues and Priests out rock them. A mage has to escape and run to friends.
For hunters, the improved recast pet needs to be made a spell and not a talent. All hunter shots should be able to be used while moving, as should all mage spells.
vlad Jul 10th 2008 3:36PM
you suck amanda. there about 8 moments pre bc. and about 3 after. its obvious you didnt play back in the day.
vlad Jul 10th 2008 3:37PM
thats a light hearted you suck btw :)
vlad Jul 10th 2008 10:49PM
that was supposed to be a light hearted you suck btw :)
berserkerlxl Jul 10th 2008 4:16PM
The only real bottleneck is the bridge. People don't really follow the roads.
Anenome Jul 10th 2008 4:17PM
We want the warlock lifetap back in the game!!! I'm sick of seeing a warlock in BG with 20,000 hp.
Ace Jul 11th 2008 12:12AM
As far as AV goes...
Don't forget to mention that the FWGY is pretty far away from the Horde towers, and someone trying to cap FWGY only has to deal with the 4 defenders.
As horde, you have to not only deal with the 4 defenders, but if you step a tad too far east of the AS flag, you'll be in range of the bunker archers, as well as close enough to aggro the blacksmith NPC and gang.
As far as Warlocks and fear goes...
@11 Saying that fear only works if your opponent's abilities or trinkets are on cooldown is a bunch of BS, cause in PvP you can expect people to have a trinket, which will get you out of one fear, but you can still cast two more. Even forsaken, who have WotF, still only have two means of escaping fear and you still have a third one. Which you can still chain off a Death Coil.
Even if you don't have a "viable" means of escape, locks can take quite a beating, as I've ganged up on a warlock with a fury warrior (I'm a rogue) and despite both of us beating on him continuously, it still took us quite a while to kill him, and he killed the warrior long before I finished him off.
@14 Fear and seduction being on the same diminishing returns was a nerf to both, but if you think about it otherwise you'd be able to chain three fears, then three seductions, then three fears... Kind of OP'd compared to everyone else's CC's.
If all CC's are getting nerfed down to 8 sec. you can't complain about rogues' CC's. They get cheap shot which doesn't last near that long, they get blind, which they can use once, pretty much. And they get kidney shot, but they need to build up the 5 combo points for that. It takes skill for a rogue to keep a single enemy controlled. It doesn't take much skill as a lock to fear and dot several opponents at the same time.
And I LOLed at the comment about CC being the "least stable" of all CC's. Who cares how erratic they're moving? You're a lock, you don't need LOS to DoT your targets up enough to kill them three times over. But I can sympathize with your frustrations... I hate it when I blind an opponent and he somehow manages to always turn around when I'm trying to get behind him for a backstab. :)
Dan Jul 11th 2008 7:30AM
"Blizzard toys with the idea of nerfing lifetap on the PTR. Before the nerf is even implemented on the PTR, massive warlock QQ ensues. Result is that the change is never implemented on the PTR and thus never got patched into the actual game."
In europe, at least, I saw no mention of the lifetap change until after it had already been applied to the PTR. And they had two (slightly) different versions of the change up on the PTR for testing, which I'm sure was true on all public test realms. So how exactly "the change is never implemented on the PTR" could be true I don't know...
I'd also like to point out that there were a couple threads with hundreds of posts in them, where the majority expressed that it wasn't the fact that they were looking at nerfing lifetap that was the problem, but rather the particular method they chose.
Not to mention that in PvE it would not be a nerf, but rather a buff (assuming the players in question replaced some high stamina items). It was actually a stamina nerf, not a lifetap nerf.