Officers' Quarters: Patch 4.0.1 -- An officer's perspective
by Scott Andrews 
Sep 20th 2010 at 11:00AM
Most major game patches have a significant impact on guild officers, and in the past I've tried to give an officers' perspective on how the changes to the game will affect the decisions and plans that we make moving forward. Unlike previous patch-perspective columns, however, a reader actually requested this one.
Hey Scott,
I'm a guild leader for a rather small 10-man raiding guild, and I got to thinking today about the upcoming pre-Cata patch that's going to change everything. See, Wrath was the first expansion of WoW that I, and many members of my guild, were ever really active in (a lot of us swapped over from another MMO, together), so I was wondering -- once the pre-Cata patch hits, should we continue raiding? From the grumblings I've been hearing on the PTR, numbers are all out of whack, and with some of the class changes coming, I was wondering if it'd even be a good idea to keep raiding once 4.0.1 hits. I've never experienced the "conversion" from one expansion to another on the raiding front, so I really have no idea what to expect as far as people's attitudes (not just guildies, but possible PUGs, too). In the other games I'd played, an expansion just meant new zones, storyline, etc., but WoW's expansion features a level cap increase, and in this case, a major overhaul in how we play.
Should I expect people to want to keep raiding? If we do keep raiding, should we do so under the pretense that it'll help us learn the major changes to our classes? Or should I just hang it all up and let people do their own thing until the expansion hits and we finish leveling to 85?
Usaya, Elune
Hi, Usaya. Fear not! It's always a strange time during the weeks leading up to an expansion, but it's mostly positive. In general, players will be excited about the game again. You should expect to see more players logging in and more players who want to take care of unfinished business before the new level cap trivializes existing content.
Your questions are focused on raiding, so I'll talk about that aspect of the patch first. The question for many guilds these days isn't whether you should raid but whether you can, given the level of interest and the amount of active players on your roster. Fielding a full team has been a struggle for many guilds, even as far back as February and March, let alone today after the longest content gap in WoW's history.
The raiding situation
If your guild is currently raiding, then there's no reason to stop after the patch drops. Players will want to try out their shiny, shorter talent trees and bust out new abilities against Arthas and his army of undead chumps. If your guild isn't currently raiding, the patch may provide the motivation your guild needs to put together a run. Put something on the schedule and see what happens.
The problem is, as you mention, the numbers will be all out of whack, and even Blizzard isn't sure how it will all shake out. Zarhym mentioned that Blizzard might even have to reduce the 30 percent buff in ICC once the new talents and stat changes go live because the fights would otherwise be far too easy. We won't know for sure how the changes affect our own raid team until we zone in for the first time. Ask your raid leaders to be patient with players while they learn how to deal with all the changes to their class.
If Zarhym's speculation is correct and the patch does indirectly nerf Wrath's raids, then we are likely to see a surge of interest in raiding much like at the end of The Burning Crusade, when raids were directly nerfed by about 30 percent across the board. Players who haven't beaten the Lich King or Halion will want to see those bosses die. Guilds who have been struggling on heroic Putricide or who could never beat Yogg+1 for their proto-drakes will suddenly have a great reason to keep trying.
Another reason to raid would be to farm legendaries for the guild achievement. If your guild doesn't already have a player with Thunderfury, Sulfuras, the Warglaives set, Thori'dal, Val'anyr or Shadowmourne, now is the time to try. You will get credit for obtaining them once guild achievements go live. There's an achievement for obtaining three of them and another one for obtaining all six (the Warglaives set counts as one).
I do recommend, however, taking a break from official guild runs for one or several weeks prior to Cataclysm's release. That gives everyone, especially your raid leaders, a break so they can hit the new content feeling fresh.
Speaking of achievements
Unfortunately, according to Mumper, guild achievements (and leveling) will not go live with 4.0.1 but instead will be added with the expansion itself. That is a major bummer. The new talents and UI changes will be nice for a while, but there won't be much new for players to, you know, do. Officers could have taken their guilds on major achievement-earning sprees to pass the time until Azeroth goes boom, but alas, we'll have to wait to work on the vast majority of them.
Even so, there are a few, like the legendary achievement, that you can get a head start on now or during 4.0.1:
- Guild Vault If you haven't purchased all available bank slots, now is the time to ask members to gather some gold for the cause. Consider hosting some GDKP runs if your guild is gold-poor but gear-rich.
- Dungeon Diplomat, etc. There are guild achievements for being exalted with various groups of factions, culminating in United Nations. The game already has 55 factions, so you can theoretically earn this achievement right now. Take a poll to see who has done the grind for the more difficult or obscure factions in the game. Then support individuals who volunteer to rep up with the factions your guild still needs.
- Dinner Party, etc. You can't get credit for placing feasts yet, but you can gather the mats and cook them. Gigantic Feast is probably the cheapest to craft, but it's not a particularly useful item. The same is true for most of the profession achievements, such as Dust, Dust, and More Dust. You can gather the items for it, but you have to hold onto them for now. I hope you bought all those bank vaults!
- Working as a Team Smaller guilds may not actually have all the professions covered. Consult the new guild UI to see what everyone has leveled up and try to fill in the gaps. Doing so is quite useful beyond earning the achievement.
The changes to the guild UI are pretty sweeping. They range from the mundane (class icons in the roster pane) to the mandatory -- guild leaders would have thrown a fit if Blizzard didn't improve the guild rank functionality (thankfully, they did). If you're planning to make major changes to your ranks, I'd suggest waiting for the patch to drop.
A new feature recently unveiled in the beta is the ability to bar members from specific guild ranks if they don't have an authenticator tied to their account. I'm crossing my fingers that this option goes live. If so, I will require an authenticator for every rank that has any guild bank access at all, and I recommend that every guild leader do the same. Access to any tab is access to everything for a hacker. Personally, it's getting really old putting four dozen stolen and then restored items back into the bank vaults. There is simply no excuse for a player not to have an authenticator these days. They've been available for years now; they're ultra-cheap; shipping is free if you need the hardware version; and they make life easier for yourself, your officers and Blizzard's staff. If you're an officer and you don't have one, you're risking some major hassles for you and your guild.
The new UI will also allow you to create events, manage the bank, sort members by several different criteria (including professions) and see who has done or looted what (much like the armory, but for the whole guild). Eventually, the guild UI will be your source of info for your guild's leveling, perks and rewards, as well as how much each member is contributing to your level.
A few other patch changes of note:
- The currency exchange will meld triumph and frost emblems into a single batch of points. You may want to encourage members who are currently in the process of gearing up to save their triumphs until after the patch. That way, they can use triumphs to purchase frost gear.
- The new stat system will in some cases radically change your players' gear. If you offer or sell gems and enchants from your guild bank, be sure to stock up on them now while there is less overall demand.
- Glyphs are also changing significantly (and will be permanent), so a stockpile of glyphs in the guild bank would be quite helpful to your members as well. In addition, you'll want your scribes to churn out a massive amount of Vanishing Powder so your raiders can optimize glyphs on the fly.
- Hunter pets will suddenly offer a wide array of raid buffs. If your raid is often missing one or more of these buffs, encourage your hunters to level pets of the appropriate type.
/salute
Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas and suggestions at scott@wow.com. You may find your question the subject of next week's Officers' Quarters! Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
nieboh Sep 20th 2010 3:08PM
While I think it's great that you folks come and view this site, too, I think you should be aware that this is an American website published for a predominantly American audience. You can tell by the .com thing. Otherwise it would have a .uk or .fr or something.
Hey, have you guys gotten together to form a .eu (european union) web domain to serve as an umbrella for all european websites yet? I don't know because I have an "American-centric" point of view.
Pyromelter Sep 20th 2010 3:36PM
teelie, fear is actually right on this one. Because authenticators have encryption technology, it's often classified as military equipment. My understanding is that outside of Europe and US, it's 20-25 bucks for shipping.
All the more reason to either use the workaround desktop authenticator, or get an android phone which you can pretty much get for free these days.
Velkyn Sep 21st 2010 12:18AM
A good "excuse" is simply being unable to pay for it on the Blizzard Store. They only accept credit cards, no Paypal or anything else, and in my country credit cards are so uncommon that I don't know a single person who has one. :/
Fearmemortals Sep 21st 2010 5:58AM
last time i bought an authenticator it cost me 40$ in shipping. and you can't even go in with a bunch of mates cause it caps at 2 per order. I can think of at least one person in my guild who is an officer who doesn't think he should pay 50$ for an authenticator when he's never had account security
and to neiboh where is your evidence that this is a site published for an American audience? This is a site whose demographic is the World of Warcraft community. There are more non American WoW players than American WoW players (Europe, South America, Asia, Australia etc)
sangrael Sep 20th 2010 3:41PM
There's at least one issue with the new talents that might effect current raiding guilds, and that relates to protadins. Our Div Prot has dropped to 20%, most likely to compensate for Guardian giving us 60% damage reduction, but we don't get that until 85. Argent is also a CD, so you have to be intelligent about the usage on that as well, plus it restores less health than it currently does on live. While not huge for every fight, if you're in a guild still working on content in ICC and your MT is a pally, you'll probably have to figure out a new way to work your damage reduction abilities with the raid setup.
Also, three cheers for the ability to set ranks based on authenticators. Making people pull out the pets has never set me at ease after I had an officer take his off without telling me because he changed his phone, and then he ended up getting hacked.
Chris Sep 20th 2010 5:34PM
"The currency exchange will meld triumph and frost emblems into a single batch of points. You may want to encourage members who are currently in the process of gearing up to save their triumphs until after the patch. That way, they can use triumphs to purchase frost gear."
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. No. Look at the prices of stuff on the PTR at the moment. It will take about 10x the number of emblems to buy anything after the conversion. The gear you get will likely last minutes once cata hits. If you must buy new gear, buy it before 4.0.1 hits
(cutaia) Sep 20th 2010 5:44PM
Alrighty then. So, how many Emblems of Triumph does a piece of Frost gear cost on your server? (i.e. He's only suggesting that folks stockpile Triumph emblems...not Frost Emblems.)
Besides, specific numbers on PTRs are easy to change. I'd imagine they will, too. Remember when they announced that battleground marks were going away and we all thought that we were going to get a million honor points?
Hagu Sep 20th 2010 3:53PM
@lethian - A "first day exploit" -
Currently outstanding:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1732935/adobe-zero-day-exploit-mayhem
Last year:
http://www.curse.com/articles/curse-en-news/526956.aspx
means someone who is running an up to date OS with current antivirus can still be hacked. In particular, the flash ads and flash zero-day exploits are a concern when visiting absolutely normal/legal/moral websites.
Advertising networks, like google adsense, mean when you visit your WoW fan site, the ads that display on the sides are placed their automatically and rarely ( but not never ) can be compromised.
Being incompetent or foolish almost certainly will get you infected. Doing your best really helps but is no guarantee.
Spark Sep 20th 2010 4:11PM
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Roboticus Sep 20th 2010 2:57PM
Sparks, you seem to know a bit about this, so let me ask, to what extents is the behind-the-curve period of vulnerability still risky for someone who uses No-Script and the highest level of other browser security settings (let's assume for convenience I don't fall for social engineering)?
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Drive-by downloads and other advanced malware attacks tend to use javascript. So running NoScript (or something similar) helps a lot. It helps less when you whitelist or, like you noted, you start to otherwise allow sites. Think about that for a second.
To post here on WoW Insider, you had to run scripts from numerous sites (all part of AOL's network it seems). Let's say joystiq.com's site code had a SQL injection vulnerability and an attacker was able to slip in a bit of javascript in to the template for the AOL site header at the very top of this page. You've already allowed scripts from joystiq.com because you wanted to post your comment. So since joystiq.com is serving up the malicious script... you're now being subjected to a zero-day exploit. Now, if it's against Flash then NoScript probably saved you. If it's against something like a flaw in how your OS handles animated cursors or a particular graphics format, then maybe not.
That's part of the problem with Information Security; it's a lot of maybes. It's all about how certain parameters line up. You and I running NoScript can put a wrench in that. But we shouldn't feel too smug about it as we're not completely invulnerable.
As for who's responsible for being compromised; there's no single blame. But I do believe we are ultimately responsible for our own security and we need to take precautions. But at the same time, there's a level that's beyond the scope of most people. The key to reasonable security is striking a good balance (keep patched, don't believe that "Bizzard" wants to give you a free sparkle pony, while not having to know the details of how a website works just to use it). And that's what I see Authenticators being; a good balance between security and usability without too much technical knowledge.
Elvgren Sep 20th 2010 4:40PM
"Hunter pets will suddenly offer a wide array of raid buffs. If your raid is often missing one or more of these buffs, encourage your hunters to level pets of the appropriate type."
THIS is why I lament the change in direction of hunters and their pets in Cata. "Jimmy can't come out and play tonight, so you have to bring pet X."
Grovinofdarkhour Sep 20th 2010 5:01PM
As a hunter, a guild leader, and part-time raid leader, I welcome this with open arms. I intend to tame each of the pet types that have the most needed buffs and if we're missing a critical buff I'll bring the appropriate pet, no questions asked. I'd bring a lump of earwax as a pet if it would increase our odds of success. People who only want to travel with whichever pet looks the coolest are usually the same people who decide what gear to equip based on how "cute" it looks, i.e., people who aren't likely to prioritize learning to raid competently anytime soon.
celestrialwolf Sep 21st 2010 3:24AM
Oh yes the hunter pet change, finally another reason for other people to boss me around and tell me how to play may toon. Oh joy, I really look forward to that....
Fearmemortals Sep 21st 2010 5:49AM
last time i bought an authenticator it cost me 40$ in shipping. and you can't even go in with a bunch of mates cause it caps at 2 per order. I can think of at least one person in my guild who is an officer who doesn't think he should pay 50$ for an authenticator when he's never had account security
and to neiboh where is your evidence that this is a site published for an American audience? This is a site whose demographic is the World of Warcraft community. There are more non American WoW players than American WoW players (Europe, South America, Asia, Australia etc)
Fearmemortals Sep 21st 2010 5:50AM
it appears i failed at hitting the reply button, this post is RE: an earlier thread
Alberoth Sep 24th 2010 9:26AM
One of the guilds I have been involved with recently had the Guild Leader get hacked. She had an authenticator. She was on wow, got DC'd and my mate called her to find out when she would be back. She was on the phone to him when her character logged back in and started clearing out the guild bank. Over 100k gold and hundreds of flasks and mats and other good stuff disappeared in a flash.
The Guild leader when she got back online was so upset that she folded the guild... they got all the stuff back eventually, but she still folded it. We had 2 10man teams who were 11/12 in ICC10.
For my guild, I am looking forward to this because I want to have a couple of general access tabs, a couple of raiding tabs and a couple of officer only tabs and I want to restrict the officer ranks to those people who have authenticators.
Kate Sep 27th 2010 12:48PM
On the topic of guild achievements, are we certain that the reputations will be in fact be retroactive upon Cata's launch?
I run a teeny tiny guild, and it would be fun to work on getting exalted with some of the more obscure reputations, BUT I'm leery that Blizz won't count anything we've achieved prior to launch. The mantra seems to be that nothing beyond the legendary weapons will be counted retroactively.
Are we safe to get exalted or not? If we do it and it doesn't count then we've lost the opportunity on that particular character. When you've got less than 20 characters to work on these, it does matter.