Patch 5.4 patch notes
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The latest patch 5.4 newsThe Queue: Why I welcome the Dragon Soul nerf and why you should, too
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 19th 2012 at 11:00AM
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.
The progressive Dragon Soul nerf that was announced last night should have been expected by everyone. It's something Blizzard has done constantly, and I'm a tad surprised that so many people feel like it came out of the blue.
The progressive Dragon Soul nerf that was announced last night should have been expected by everyone. It's something Blizzard has done constantly, and I'm a tad surprised that so many people feel like it came out of the blue.
The biggest complaint I've heard is that the Raid Finder was meant for the easy modes. The Raid Finder, while good, isn't for everyone. Some people really hate pugging -- so much so that they'd rather not play the game than have to pug. There are some people who are just interested in running content with their guild, and if their guild doesn't want to run the Raid Finder, then it's normal modes.
The Dragon Soul raid nerf will do nothing more than allow a wider base to see more content -- and that's a good thing for the game, for the community, and for the future of WoW. And that is something we should all be supportive of. Even more so, there are groups struggling on various aspects of normal and heroic Dragon Soul. If you're not, that's awesome. Pat on the back, tip of the hat. But ... not everyone is so lucky.
If you're hardcore and don't want raid with the progressive nerf active, just turn it off at the entrance. Problem solved; now let's all go kill some internet dragons.
Philster asked:
What pop culture references should make it into Mists of Pandaria, and what shouldn't?
Anything about Doctor Who shouldn't make it in. Everything about SeaQuest DSV should.
Thundrek asked:
What's the Blizzard take on the SOPA bill? What would it mean if it passes for sites likes these?
Blizzard hasn't taken any official stand, and neither has Activision.
What would it mean for a site like WoW Insider? To be honest, I don't know. I do know that our parent company, AOL, has lawyers who would be heavily consulted to determine the feasibility of running content like WoW Moviewatch or Around Azeroth. We have a good relationship with Blizzard, so I don't think anything would happen on that front, but could P Diddy Puff Mommy get upset that some artist is making fun of his/her stuff in a WoW movie parody? Yup. And could that mean we'd be in trouble with SOPA/PIPA? Yup.
Either way, if it happens, we'll just have to wait and see what the particular results are.
Also, all this should only be taken for my own ramblings and not in any way a statement by the site or our parent company.
Robert asked:
How much time does a person have to spend staring at their own armory before they can be considered a narcissist?
After 11 hours. Ten hours doesn't count. It doesn't.
Grimmwrath asked:
Not sure if anyone noticed this, but a major retailer's website (wal-mart) advertised a "pre-order" of MoP, citing a ship date of April 1st. The picture wasn't even a finished box cover. What gives?
That information is horribly inaccurate and should not be trusted. Best Buy reached a new level with this when it even put out a sign advertising Diablo III's release date as Feb. 1 but later had to take it down because it was wrong. Blizzard is the only source you should trust (and well, us, when we report on what Blizzard says).
The box art itself isn't an indicator of anything, either. It's just whatever their internal graphic artists came up with. Probably made in MS Paint.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 12)
eel5pe Jan 19th 2012 11:59AM
are you asking in comparison to LFR? What do you mean by PUG difficulty?
Sunaseni Jan 19th 2012 12:44PM
Assuming you mean DS with bosses nerfed 35%, compared to LFR:
Morchok: Was gonna go down either way, now he's just faster.
Zon'ozz: Still need to properly bounce the ball, but it'll be easier.
Yor'sahj: Green will still AOE, but it won't be as bad.
Hagara: Still have ice blocks and ice lances to contend with.
Ultraxion: ~300,000 Hour of Twilight to ~210,000 Hour of Twilight. Still one shots DPS without a cooldown trick, though damage reductions are more viable. Fading Light still insta-kills.
Blackhorn: I assume the less damage means the Skyfire takes longer to be shot down, but the adds still come at the same pace. Very little difference between normal and LFR.
Spine: Will still need to shoot down 3 of the tentacles and contend with the healing debuff (don't think that's getting nerfed, so you'll still need the same amount of healing), and will still need to roll off excess amalgamations.
Madness: Fight's pretty much the same between normal and LFR, without any mechanics removed. The numbers will be much closer, though.
So, there will still be a jump in difficulty between LFR and Normal, but it won't be so steep. I personally think that the content isn't all that challenging, but it seems a few people have difficulty with it, so that's who the nerfs are for.
For those who can clear normal, since winning was already a forgone conclusion, that just makes it faster.
Stilhelm Jan 19th 2012 1:48PM
I'm not sure why there's discussion of a 35% nerf. The nerf is 5%, and Blizzard has said they may not increase to 30% like in ICC.
That being said, you missed some things for some encounters:
Zon'ozz: the debuff does a *lot* of dog compared to LFR, and another 60k when dispelled, and knocks the player back. So for the foreseeable future, healers need to heal a lot for the debuff and dispel at the right time, i.e. don't dispel a player when the ball is about to hit their group. Also, there is actual tank damage, unlike LFR.
Blackhorn: don't forget the sappers. Let more than one of those guys get through and your boat is probably going down. Also, Shockwave combined with his damaging shout is still likely to kill a player, so Shockwave has to be avoided at all cost.
Madness: damage reduction cooldowns very useful for elementium bolt, plus you *have* to be far away from where it lands if you can't deterrence/cloak it. Also, in LFR you can get away with not everyone killing Blistering Tentacles, although the most common reason for wiping there is not enough people switching. The big difference in Madness from LFR to normal is that in LFR, less than half the raid needs to be at all competent, while in normal *everyone* needs to do the right things at the right times the whole 12-15 minutes of the encounter.
Honestly, what would be ideal for smaller guilds like mine is if we could run LFR with 12-15 people without pugging any additional players.
John Jan 19th 2012 2:42PM
Stilhelm, I believe the 35% is because the Raid Finder is 35% 'nerfed'/easier compared to normal mode.
If this is the case, it's understandable why Blizzard is hesitant to bring the nerfing to 30%. The difference between the Raid Finder and normal mode would become too... vague.
Draelan Jan 19th 2012 2:54PM
"Also, in LFR you can get away with not everyone killing Blistering Tentacles, although the most common reason for wiping there is not enough people switching. The big difference in Madness from LFR to normal is that in LFR, less than half the raid needs to be at all competent, while in normal *everyone* needs to do the right things at the right times the whole 12-15 minutes of the encounter."
Which makes my run in LFR last night REALLY REALLY pathetic... Our DPS was good, I've 1-shot madness with FAR worse damage being done, but we kept losing at least half our DPS to the Blistering Tentacles on the last platform, DESPITE repeatedly saying "Single-target, don't AoE". After 2-3 wipes, someone finally specifically called out the AoEs they saw people using and explained that they were ineffective. Of course, on THAT attempt our replacement "tank" went kitty form for the entire fight, and stayed solely on the Arm/Wing/DW. We wiped at 4 million health because the healers were just overwhelmed at that point trying to keep the single tank who was doing his job alive through the Elementium terrors. FINALLY after that, now that we had beaten the concept of "single-target the blistering tentacles or DIE" into the DPS and got another replacement tank who actually DID HIS JOB, we beat the encounter.
Needless to say, I was in no mood to run LFR on my DK like I had intended after that.
Shinae Jan 19th 2012 11:09AM
Grimmwrath, shouldn't the April 1st date be a big clue that it's not real?
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 11:25AM
Even if it wasn't April first, the damn thing isn't even in beta yet- you probably have at least 6 months, if not longer, after beta starts. Go chew some gum or make a sammitch. We got a long way to go people.
zackwbrandon Jan 19th 2012 11:45AM
To be fair, the beta for Cata was four months, and for Wrath was around four as well. I suspect beta will start in April or May and be done mid summer. Release? I hope for July, think August is possible, but suspect September. If beta drops sooner than April, just slap three to four months on THAT date for a safe bet.
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 12:24PM
Just for reference-
http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warcraft:_Cataclysm
I am not saying beta will last 6 months. I am saying there is a good amount of time between beta starting and the expac releasing. Closed beta started June 30th, and Cata's release was December 7th.
clundgren Jan 19th 2012 12:55PM
It will likely be a considerably shorter beta than Cataclysm. The magnitude of changes introduced with Cataclysm, not to mention the sheer number of quests, was enormous. We just don't see that much of it at 85.
Noyou Jan 19th 2012 1:28PM
A new class and race, updated player models, and a totally new talent system- did I mention pet battles? That's a lot, in addition to the normal quests, dungeons and raids. I'm just trying to be realistic about things. I want MoP to come out as soon as humanly possible. I just don't see anything in Blizzards recent history to tell me it will. If we get word that friends and family alpha has started/finished, then we can all get excited.
zackwbrandon Jan 19th 2012 5:34PM
A new class and race: each previewable complete with animations and control schemes at Blizzcon. A new talent system that was past theorycrafting and into practical reality so far that they allowed a full preview and discussion. That is further along than ANY x-pac has been at a comparable point in time. Cataclysm barely had any real meat to the preview at Blizzcon. Further, according to the Q&A sessions, two zones were done and ready for testing internally. I will be absolutely astonsihed if Beta starts any later than April, though it could last through December (but I doubt it).
There are too many internal and external factors at play for Blizz to push this off too long. I'd imagine that pet battles and pve scenarios would be set aside for a patch sooner than allow the x-pac to hold off til the end of the year.
Task Jan 20th 2012 2:43AM
@Shinae
"Grimmwrath, shouldn't the April 1st date be a big clue that it's not real?"
Does that include my birthday as well?
If so, I is sad... :(
Nina Katarina Jan 19th 2012 11:10AM
April 1st is a traditional holiday of sorts. You should believe everything you read on or about April 1st.
(still waiting for the Bard class)
Gimmlette Jan 19th 2012 11:13AM
Pattern for tin foil hats, please.
loop_not_defined Jan 19th 2012 12:04PM
I really, really, really want 8-bit Molten Core. :(
"HAS SOUND"
Grovinofdarkhour Jan 19th 2012 12:24PM
Yeah, but that's screwy. The thing about April Fool's Day is that the jokes/pranks/whatever actually happen ON April Fool's Day, not that they can happen any day of the year so long as someone references 4/1 as the "hint". I seriously doubt this is Walmart trying to pull a funny, but if it is, je suis le disappoint.
kewl97 Jan 19th 2012 12:40PM
April 1st is the first of the month, the first day of a quarter, and for many companies the first day of the fiscal year. Therefore, when companies use placeholder dates, and their computers don't allow for something unspecific (like "sometime in 2012"), they'll use a date like April 1st.
Kind of boring compared to a genuine April Fool's joke from Walmart.
Task Jan 20th 2012 3:02AM
@Kewl97
"April 1st is the first of the month, the first day of a quarter, and for many companies the first day of the fiscal year. Therefore, when companies use placeholder dates, and their computers don't allow for something unspecific (like "sometime in 2012"), they'll use a date like April 1st."
Yaay, my birthday is a company placeholder!!! (No sarcasm implied) Now I need to get a fiscal year starter pistol and we're set.
Gorelord Jan 19th 2012 11:12AM
Quote: "If you're hardcore and don't want raid with the progressive nerf active, just turn it off at the entrance. Problem solved; now let's all go kill some internet dragon."
I'm not hardcore...I dont even have a set raid schedule. But I do not see that as fixing the problem entirely. It is nice to be able to look at the gear on folks and use it as a measure of the player's skill.
If players are being awarded the same gear for different difficulty lvls, it makes is unclear which player has superior skill.
Folks that earn gear on the most difficult settings available should be easily recognized for their accomplishment - not look the same as folks who downed content on an easier setting.