Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPTR Patch 3.3: Patch notes updated
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 27th 2009 at 7:53PM
Some major highlights (although you should really read everything after the break, all of it is very important):
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
- Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
- Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
- LFG channel has returned to being a realm-wide channel accessible in any city!
General
- Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.
- Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.
- Sacred Shield: The damage absorption effect from this ability now triggers only once every 30 seconds.
- Infusion of Light: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the effect of Sacred Shield by 12/24 seconds.
- Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.
- This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.
- Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.
- Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.
- Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.
- The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.
- The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.
- Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.
- Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the "Quests" section for details).
- Level-approp
riate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons. - Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.
- Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player's inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon System.
- Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.
- Pick-Up Groups
- Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.
- As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.
- Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.
- A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.
- Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon System tool for 15 minutes.
- If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon System queue.
- A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.
- Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon System will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.
- The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon System and has been updated.
- Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.
- Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player's current level.
There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing "/LFR."
- Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.
- While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.
- Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader's name, the raid information (number of people the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.
- The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon system interface.
- Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.
- Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.
- Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran.
- Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.Filed under: Patches, News items
Reader Comments (Page 9 of 10)
Grimmak94 Oct 28th 2009 2:40AM
Perky Pug vanity pet, eh? Could we finally be getting a dog pet? Looks like Ima do a shit-ton of pugging when this comes out.
ash Oct 28th 2009 2:45AM
That sacred shield nerf seems a bit harsh for the other specs. Its pretty much only good for one hit since it only last 30 seconds anyway, unless you buff it with divine guardian, which would make it last long enough for two hits. I am not sure where Blizzard is heading here, if pallys are not supposed to use defensive spells whats the whole idea about outlasting your opponent? If people really think a nerf is needed then maybe make it proc once every 10 or 12 seconds baseline, but I don't think its really needed in the first place. Is this some fall out from arena cause I don't understand it?
Abyddon Oct 28th 2009 3:54AM
I suspect that this is fallout from the growing tendency of guilds to carry at least one protection paladin and at least one holy paladin. Previously the protection paladin had a divine shield nearly as strong as that of the holy paladin making it a fairly easy decision to utilize the holy paladin's divine shield on a non-paladin tank. The tweak makes the holy paladin's divine shield a clearly stronger option and forces the raid/holy paladin to consider which tank could best use their divine shield.
ash Oct 28th 2009 4:57PM
Meh, that still seems chintzy to me. I mean, warriors get vigilance which straight up reduces damage for 30 minutes. Its a little comparing apples and oranges but I think it takes away from the class to do something like this. The only use for SS then becomes for the Hot maybe and the improved crit on FoL. I call fail on this one.
Mr. Tastix Oct 28th 2009 5:10AM
Well. The Paladin nerfs are a kick where it hurts. As usual.
Especially the Lay on Hands one. The Sacred Shield one sucks but I can learn to live with that one but the LoH one is clearly been made due to a bunch of players QQing about Paladins in Battlegrounds.
Why Battlegrounds? Because you CANNOT use LoH in Arena. AT ALL. And it WOULD be pretty OP if you could. But in duels or World PVP it's fine (game isn't balanced around those) and in BG's there's just too many variables.
Besides, spellcasters still whip us in PVP. They always have. The whole "3 lives" thing doesn't really mean shit when a mage, warlock or elemental shaman can take ALL of those lives out.
Yes. I am fucking butthurt.
Hat Oct 28th 2009 6:03AM
I only have two disappointments with these changes:
1) Surely we could have an MS / OS / Greed / DE set of options by now to add further flexibility. Yes, a lot of heroics PUG's are run to gear up OS, but new players gearing up MS should have priority imho.
2) I can no longer queue for a dungeon and a raid at the same time.
Gareth Oct 28th 2009 7:10AM
While I think the idea of cross realm pickup groups is a fundementally bad idea for the social aspects of the game I do like most of how its implemented, apart from this
"Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance."
Guildwars anyone? Seriously, the joke of turning WoW into a game where you stand in a city and just instant teleport to various instances has come true. Immersionwise this is totally world breaking, take away the world from the world of warcraft and I think only a simple much diminished game is left.
blindlinus Oct 28th 2009 7:56AM
okay...
* LFG channel has returned to being a realm-wide channel accessible in any city!
if you are lying i swear i will cry
* Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.
1) total nerf to WotF considering it only removes sleep poly and charm
2) anyone else think it's kind of odd that the cd on these anti-cc devices now magically line up with the cd on a shaman's hex?
Sicadastra Oct 28th 2009 8:39AM
"Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas."
Not sure I like that... I often go into LFG for a couple heroics and a 10 man at the same time.
Nuszika Oct 28th 2009 9:26AM
So WotF is going from a 2 minute cooldown to 45 seconds? Congratulations on the buff.
Are we assuming that if your inventory is full when the final boss dies the special item gets mailed to you?
"If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon System queue."
I was in an OldKingdom pug quite recently and this arse quit because the group kept wiping...and then we finished it easily with only four. Guess that's out. We often do HVH with only 3 or 4, it's pretty easy.
Also, it's a pug using the new egalitarian pugging system. Why is there a leader, why not vote?
Obviously you should just roll need on anything you can roll need on, figure out whether to equip or vendor it later.
Rylka Oct 28th 2009 9:15AM
"A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list."
One of the best modifiers to the system. : )
DavidStewartZink Oct 28th 2009 9:29AM
Have we always had a cross realm ignore list?
What would be great is if Blizz totted up people's heinousness and grouped the ones on everyone's ignore lists with each other.
agobelle Oct 28th 2009 9:38AM
I'm somewhat concerned that you can only be LF one type at a time. I liked being LFR and LFD at the same time while in queue for a BG. I hope that the expansive access to the whole Battle Group (or larger?) will allow for faster pickup on the Raid end to make lurking in LFR worth it.
DavidStewartZink Oct 28th 2009 10:23AM
The fact that Blizz still doesn't seem to have the faintest clue what they're doing when they "balance" or adjust the classes makes me sad, after all these years of practice.
Still, the undead whining here, knee-jerk pali whining, it just fills up the threads and does nothing useful.
Don't tell me you're going to drop your undead toon, tell me what race you're going to for its awesome racials. I'd like to hear it. Maybe Night Elf, so you can run back from the graveyard quicker? I always feared the Tauren war stomp: such a pity they're so ugly I just can't play them the first thirty levels until they get hats and obscuring garments. And they also can't play any interesting classes. All four original horde races make my back hurt just looking at them.
I used to play a warrior, but I quit after the maces nerf and didn't play for a year. Then I rolled a priest, which isn't so bad. My new theory is that Blizz has a specific way they want you to play each class, and if you're fine with that, charge ahead; until they change their minds. If they LET you play the class against the grain it's a ton more fun, but eventually they'll notice and screw you over.
Why the maces nerf? I think it was just the final straw. They gave me a free respec: great, I wanted all my decisions nullified and a 5 gold cookie. They didn't give me a free re-gear. You look at those epic maces you worked so hard to get, and to get enchanted and all that: they aren't really the best weapons you could equip period, but were literally the best you could equip for the spec. Someone cast "Whim of the Devs" and they're junk.
The other thing to understand is that the Devs mostly play horde, and love shamans. So if you really want to just be the most uber, play a horde shaman. Ignore Customer Care: they like alliance healing classes, but they don't have any power.
Darky Oct 28th 2009 10:55AM
Oh yeah, elemental shamans don't stop gloating about being in the top dps almost always.
Shadowwind Oct 28th 2009 11:36AM
Thanks for the laugh (At least so far as the last bit about shamans!) :-D Let me put it this way: I wish!
Anyway, on to the meat of your comment. I agree with you on the first point; most racials are situational at best, next to useless at worst. (Troll Regeneration?)
The looks of the vanilla races could ALL use an upgrade. It probably won't happen, but it would be nice. Quite frankly, IMO the human models are far uglier than the tauren.
The next point is about how a class is played and changes over time. This one is complicated. Things change. If you go back to vanilla WoW, hunters had 2 completely broken trees (LolLacerate), druids/shamans/priests/paladins were only good for healing (or buffs in at least one case), and warriors were widely considered the ONLY viable tanks. There used to be a limit of 16 debuffs on a target, which caused issues in raids and forced players to avoid using certain abilities because another class needed the debuff slot more. Shaman totems now affect the entire raid UNTALENTED. They used to be limited to only your party. Sapping has not automatically taken a rogue out of stealth in a LONG time, and Vanish is getting a fix next patch.
My point? Change happens. If nothing ever changed about a class, you would still be playing the version of your character from vanilla, and trust me, you would NOT like a lot of things about that class.
DavidStewartZink Oct 28th 2009 11:23AM
It's okay that shamans top the DPS charts: after all they make a huge sacrifice in armor etc. to get there compared to mages, spriests, rogues, etc., and sacrificing armor for damage is one of the core mechanics of the game.
catharsis80 Oct 28th 2009 3:33PM
"knee-jerk pali whining"
Seriously? When every change that's on this list for holy paladins IS a nerf, including a very major one for tank healing, you expect us to just take it up the tailpipe with nothing said in return? Please. We can complain a little just like every other class. Besides, just because there are some pallies that whine doesn't mean all do. But GG on the stereotyping, bigot.
DavidStewartZink Oct 28th 2009 4:22PM
The list for holy paladins contains exactly 2 entries which are closely related: if you are non-holy or holy but don't have Infusion of Light, then the cooldown for the sacred shield effect is increased to 30 seconds. No requirement for Holy Shock, just buy the talent, get the old behavior.
If you are an actual Holy Paladin with 2 points in infusion of Light, then the list contains no nerfs at all.
*watches pali knee jerking*
DavidStewartZink Oct 28th 2009 11:22AM
Dear Blizz:
A trinket is something I spend a trinket slot on, and I expect a certain amount of return.
It makes sense that an object that fires an effect has a cooldown period, though perhaps "charge up" would make more sense. Or both: it looks like my trinket takes 45 seconds to charge up when I equip it anyways.
You'd think that if I had one trinket that gets me out of stun once every two minutes, if I had two trinkets I could get out twice every two minutes. That would make a lot of sense. That would make the PvP game more interesting, because at the moment what happens is that people devote the first part of every fight trying to get you to burn your cooldown. Once they get that, they can go to town for two minutes. If they didn't know how many cooldowns I had it would be much trickier.
But you felt the need to have "shared cooldowns". That doesn't make much sense, does it? The reason is that you felt that the trinket was overpowered. That everyone would feel the obligation to equip two of them. As many as they could. Of course, what you're really saying is that everyone has the obligation to equip one of them. They don't really have two trinket slots, they have one and a half, cause you DO get a choice whether you have +X CR or +X HR on your Titan Forged Required Trinket.
There are really three ways you could go from this OP trinket: you could make other trinkets equally OP so that people feel torn about what to equip, or you could make this trinket less OP (though it's hard to see how), or you could make stun etc. less OP so they don't require an OP trinket to counteract.
(for some reason one of the most important icons of WoW is that a rogue should be able to stunlock a clothie and kill them with literally no possible recourse. Well, stunlock-trinket-vanish-stunlock; still. Sort of "paper covers rock". To preserve that iconic WoW omelette, you need to break some eggs.)
What you ARE doing is literally the intellectually laziest possible solution.