The Queue: PTR day is a fun day

Since my job is working for WoW Insider, today is what we call a busy work day. Why? Well, friends, the PTR is up and patch 4.3 is live thereon. I'll be running dungeons, filming movies, and taking questions all day about the new content. This is what we call fun.
I'm working my hardest and fastest to get videos of the new instances up and ready for your viewing pleasure. Damn you, upload speeds.
Badmedecine asked:
When do you think the other T13's will be revealed?
Very soon. Datamining of the new patch files on the PTR has revealed most of the new sets, so Blizzard will want to get its own official previews up in the near future. Expect them soon.
jtrack3d asked:
Blizzard obviously has some kind of plan for getting people to content because content is much what you hear whined about in the forums. And people forget gear IS included in that content... this game is about gear, duh.
I'd be curious to see just how many actual people (not toons), but bodies complete tier content vs. the number of players that try the content... not all players because some never try.
That is, how many people even completed Tier 11 before it was nerfed. Tier 12? It might be enlightening just to see how elitist the elitist really are or it might tell us what Blizz's design philosophy is regarding how hard they make content.
Here's the dirty little secret: A majority of people do not raid. Raiding requires a time investment and logistical elements that many people just don't have the patience, time, or energy for when they sit down to play their video game. It's not WoW's fault, our fault, or anyone's fault. It is just the nature of endgame raiding as it stands right now. Raiding is expected in MMOs because that's how it's been done since time immemorial (1999). So, Blizzard has raiding content.
The trouble comes when you have to justify the cost and expenditures of creating content for a small portion of your user base that is, ultimately, much more expensive to put out than they would like. You want as many people in the category of player who get to see this content because, from a cost analysis point of view, you want people to see the content and have it available to them. When Mike Morhaime said that people used up all of their available content in Cataclysm too quickly, he meant that casual players who do quests and level to 85 were done in a few weeks and had nothing else accessible to them because that's not the type of players they are.
With the Raid Finder and more accessible raids and heroic dungeons, these players have a better chance at crossing the bridge to this new type of content. I appreciate that. New players getting into the raid game will appreciate that.
Kaahn Stewart asked:
Most (a large portion, in fact) of the Art Gallery updates for World of Warcraft have been Burning Crusade related. Are they just going in order, or are they hinting at what the next expansion may be about?
I honestly believe they just sort of found a bunch of high-res Burning Crusade images and were more than happy to start adding them to the galleries. These are just constant gallery updates that get the bonus effect of being a fun news item to put on the community blog. Isn't the art from The Burning Crusade amazing?
Shinae said:
I haven't seen any mention about the Keg-Shaped Treasure Chests starting to contain ~15 Brewfest Prize Tokens as of yesterday, so I'm just throwing it out there.
I am really excited about this, not because I care much about tokens, but the There is no loot message is demoralizing and dumb. There should always be something in your loot box. Maybe it's not what you wanted, but at least it was something physical and not just points.
mikesaunch asked:
So all these new dungeons and the Deathwing fight as well all seem to be in Dragonblight. Do you think Blizzard knew they were going to do this and set it up as such when they were making WotLK?
I would guess that Blizzard had an idea, especially because the books had to be written and the storylines had to be sorted out. Christie Golden's Twilight of the Aspects, for a long arc in the book, takes place at the Wyrmrest Temple and Dragonblight, so it's probably all planned out, for the most part.
After having just run End Time for the first time, it works. Being set in the Dragonblight really, really works.
Filed under: The Queue
Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news





Reader Comments (Page 5 of 9)
jtrack3d Sep 28th 2011 11:25AM
Nice answer to my question.
But, if what you say is correct and most people don't raid due to time invested / logistics and the expense of creating said content is so expensive, why haven't we seen more non-raid content and why SOOO much focus, discussion about casual vs. hardcore, perfecting the character mechanic stats and not more focus on dance floors and emotes, player housing and improvements to pvp and fishing and archeology, yada yada. All you hear about is raiding, for the most part, and balancing raiding and the gear that raiders get and no one else is allowed to have and yet raiding gets the coolest gear.
It seems to me that while I agree with the basic concept of your argument, it's just talk. Sure "Transmogrification" is cool but it years late.
If they really want to pander to the player base, wouldn't raiding be more like PvP, transmog... something they'd update when they got around to it. Sure the raiders might get pissy and leave... but then again, they are the minority as you say.... obviously it's not so simple.
TonyKP Sep 28th 2011 11:36AM
"But, if what you say is correct and most people don't raid due to time invested / logistics and the expense of creating said content is so expensive, why haven't we seen more non-raid content?"
The fact that the answer to that question has remained so elusive to the Blizzard folks is a major reason why they're getting thirteen and a half million less dollars a month now than they did the day that Cataclysm launched.
MisterRik Sep 28th 2011 12:13PM
"Raiding requires a time investment and logistical elements that many people just don't have the patience, time, or energy for when they sit down to play their video game."
This is the case for me and, apparently, a lot of other people like me. And the fact is that making raiding "more accessible" does nothing to change the fact that I don't have the time, patience, or energy to raid. And since Blizzard's stance seems to be "Raid! And screw you if you don't raid!", I've just grown very tired of the game.
They think that handing us a crapton of tedious, grindy dailies as a "way to progress our characters" is "fun". And then the rewards for doing that tedious grind is a bunch of *invisible* gear like rings and trinkets. And crafting recipes *that we can't craft unless we raid*.
And if you play a plate DPS class/spec ... Even the original Cata rep grinds just got us rings for the most part. And what little visible armor pieces are available look exactly like the crafted PvP gear. Guess what, Blizz? I'd like to *visually* progress my characters. You make us grind and grind and grind for something, and then you can't be bothered to make the non-ring/neck/trinket rewards look different from crafted PvP gear? After doing the Molten Front daily grind once, I can barely stand to do it again on another character.
If they'd managed to finish that Path of the Titans thing they promised, all of us non-raiders might not be so bored and frustrated. I'm just tired of logging in each of my level 85 toons each day just to do the same dailies. If patch 4.3 doesn't do something to keep me interested, I'm probably going to just take a break for a while. I'll come back to check out the next expansion to see if they learned anything. If not, well, I've been having a lot of fun playing City of Heroes (I'd like to try other MMOs, but WoW and CoH seem to be the only ones with Mac versions).
marcoscr05 Sep 28th 2011 11:25AM
After reading jtrack3d question I just wanted to say that for me...the game is not about the loot. Is about the content, loot is something you need to move on and experience new content.
I like loot, especially when it looks great but is just not everything to me.
Do I have the time to raid? I think so, a couple of hours 2 nights a week and a little more on the weekend. But not every week the same days at the same time, I just cannot really commit, because stuff happens.
And I said it before, I don't think I'm a bad player I think I'm a regular player and casual players money is the same as hardcore players money...so let me in my free really get a chance to complete content 'cause I want to ride on deathwins back...please
ejunk Sep 28th 2011 11:27AM
good eye, nina.
MattKrotzer Sep 28th 2011 11:37AM
Nina lost an eye years ago in a freak accident with a platypus. Most of us are tactful enough not to bring it up. It's rude to call her "Good Eye Nina."
John Sep 28th 2011 11:44AM
Curse you, Perry the Platypus!
(or did the accident actually invove Perry the Platy-borg from the Tri-State Area in the other dimension? )
ejunk Sep 28th 2011 11:57AM
Curse you WoW Insider comment system - curse you straight to C'Thun's belly!
Fox Van Allen Sep 28th 2011 11:36AM
I see Deathwing, but I don't see his speech balloon? I'm confused.
Grovinofdarkhour Sep 28th 2011 11:38AM
Put on your Synthbrew Goggles.
luispintoaveiga Sep 28th 2011 12:01PM
He's being quiet, to avoid hordes of players noticing him and asking to be burned :)
Noyou Sep 28th 2011 5:09PM
@Fox
Clearly he is in awe of your beauty ;)
MattKrotzer Sep 28th 2011 11:38AM
Shinae's name was spelled properly. I am disappoint.
Shinae Sep 28th 2011 11:47AM
Holisky has exclusive rights to that joke.
foster.emma95 Sep 28th 2011 11:40AM
How do I join the 4.3 ptr? I had 4.2 downloaded but when I open it I cant select a realm to go onto. Do I need to un install then re install?
loop_not_defined Sep 28th 2011 12:05PM
Pretty much. I tried updating from the 4.2 PTR, but it just updated me to 4.2.2 and stopped. Had to uninstall/download/install.
Arizor Sep 28th 2011 11:41AM
New Wrath and Lightning Bolt spell effects. What are your thoughts?
I like the new LB look - it does appear more electric-y and zap-like. Very nice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWV4WwuycpM
Wrath I'm not so keen on. It seems much more like something a priest would use: a holy spell. I can imagine they wanted a more 'solar' feel to it than the current one, but it's not there at the moment, for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maaJcrcBvnk
The Dewd Sep 28th 2011 12:06PM
Wow... Lightning Bolt really DOES look like a bolt of lightning now. The spell effects on it are great!
I agree, changing wrath to yellow does make it look more "holy" but I can see where, if it's supposed to be more of a solar spell, it does kinda work.
Wilk Sep 28th 2011 12:51PM
There is also a new Shadow Bolt spell effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcEWOC5YbYY
Twowolves Sep 28th 2011 11:48AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with Arthas dead and Deathwing soon to join him, are there any homegrown Azeroth baddies left to worry about or do we have to import them from other worlds and dimensions? The Old Gods don't count because they've been buried and forgotten for ages. Okay, there is still Queen Azshara (that's her name, right?). Anyone else?