Posts with tag hotfixes

Nethaera hopped on the forums today to let us know that the massive city deaths were indeed a result of an exploit taken by nefarious individuals. The exploit has been hotfixed already, and it should no longer be a problem.

Blizzard doesn't mess around with stuff like this... if people are found exploiting the game and causing problems, they'll not only find themselves banned but also in some other troubles.

Nethaera

Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities. This exploit has already been hotfixed, so it should not be repeatable. It's safe to continue playing and adventuring in major cities and elsewhere in Azeroth.

As with any exploit, we are taking this disruptive action very seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. If you have information relating to this incident, please email hacks@blizzard.com. We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced as a result of this and appreciate your understanding.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.

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• Hunters, many beasts out in the world are now properly able to be tamed.
• Paladins, Holy Wrath now deals 100% more damage.
• Druids, the periodic damage of Thrash (Bear) now deals more damage -- 60%, to be precise.
• Apparently captive breeding programs have brought the endangered Briny Clackers and Brineshell Snappers back to sustainable proportions. Who knew?
• The incredibly stylish Umbrella of Chi-Ji has had its stats improved.

Read on for the full list of hotfixes.

If you thought the item level of endgame PVE gear purchasable with justice points was a little low, Blizzard apparently agrees with you. Bashiok just let the official forums know that a hotfix is incoming, bumping the ilvl 450 PVE rares to 458. Additionally, the hotfix brings down the item level (and rarity color!) of the ilvl 464 epic PVP gear available for honor to 458 and rare.

In conjunction with the hotfix removing the reputation requirements to access the JP gear, it should be considerably less of a hassle -- and involve a lot less PVPing -- to gear up for heroics. The downside is that the PVP gear you probably bought just to cheat the queueing system is a little worse. I can live with that.

The full post from Blizzard is after the cut.

• Cross-realm zones will no longer brings together players over three time zones apart.
• In addition, when Tol Barad and Wintergrasp commence, cross-realm zoning should be disabled for the duration of the battle, and resume after the battle has been decided.
• And on top of all of that, cross-realm zones should no longer behave erratically when a party changes leader.

• Shadow priests, your Shadow Word: Pain spell will now interrupt flag captures with its initial damage.
• Mages, your Pyroblast and Combustion should now combine to do the expected amount of damage and critical damage.
• New worgens, you can breath a sigh of relief. The Banshee Queen's health in the Gilneas starting area has been returned to normal.
• And if you're headed to Scholomance, Jandice Barov's Gravity Flux and Whirl of Illusion should now work with players' immunity abilities as expected.

Welcome back to our weekly recap, featuring the TradeChat's Panser. We look back at the hottest news from the past week and whatever other kickin' rad things may have come our way. This week's topics include:

• WoW screenshots may contain watermarks
• Next WoW novel features Vol'jin
• Developer AMA transcript now available
• Gathering tools and fishing poles no longer necessary
• Mobile Armory updated for Mists of Pandaria
• Patch 5.0.5 patch notes
• The latest patch 5.0.5 hotfixes
• Breakfast Topic: Will you be making a pandaren?

If you enjoyed the show, make sure to subscribe to TradeChat, leave a comment, and come back next week for the next episode!

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• Rogues, you can start feeling sneaky again -- Stealth has been made more effective.
• For those working on the Glory of the Cataclysm Hero achievement, it no longer requires a Mists of Pandaria dungeon achievement.
• The Chess encounter in Karazhan should now be behaving properly.
• There have been numerous fixes to the behavior of various systems in Cross-Realm Zones.

The fix to Fras Siabi's Barely Bigger Beer was something that was actually implemented a few weeks ago. However, we now have an official announcement: Giant, tromping players on ridiculously huge mounts are no longer permitted. Sorry, everyone -- you'll just have to stick to Potions of Illusion for your wacky hijinks.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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• Healers coming back via Scroll of Resurrection will no longer find strength on their starter sets.
• In Madness of Deathwing, Burning Blood will no longer prematurely spike to 100 stacks if you happen to damage the Arm and Wing Tentacles quickly.

When the Raid Finder was first introduced, I had high hopes for its impact on the game. While the main reason behind the implementation of this system was arguably to get as many players experiencing raid content as possible, at the time, I was more interested in the impact it would have on the progression races between all of the top guilds in the world. I have always had a great deal of admiration for players in these types of guilds and have watched intently during each new tier as they all vied for world firsts. I believed the Raid Finder could benefit this type of competition by preventing heroic encounters from being nerfed while the content was still current. Surely, I thought, if so many people are able to experience raiding like never before through this new tool, Blizzard would have no pressing reason to make heroic encounters any easier.

Well, it seems I was wrong, for in the very next tier of content Blizzard released, we saw progressive nerfs to these difficult fights. Personally, I prefer to keep these encounters the way they are, at least until a new tier is released. Something just feels wrong to see the hardest fights available made easier through a series of hotfixes. Even with respect to my own guild's progression, having sweeping nerfs hit Firelands just as my guild was putting in some really good attempts on Ragnaros felt like Blizzard moved the finish line, taking what would have been a very gratifying kill and turning it into an accidental one-shot that contained none of the catharsis we had felt during previous boss kills.

What do you think? With the Raid Finder now a reality and a new expansion looming on the horizon, do you think the difficulty of heroic raid encounters should be static, like those from tier 11, or should they be more flexible?

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A fresh round of hotfixes landed tonight, including a pair that will relieve the pain of many achievement hunters and event celebrants this week. The following fixes are included in this round:

• Players are now able to receive Lovely Charms while on the quest Test Your Strength, when the player's inventory has both the Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide and Lovely Charm Collector's Kit.
• Players now have the chance to receive both the Lovely Charm and Grisly Trophy from a single kill.

Hit the break for the full list of tonight's hotfixes, including an Ultraxion trash nerf.

Zarhym has given us an update on the bug with Seal of Truth from yesterday, and it opens a fascinating window into the complexities of the code that ultimately is the World of Warcraft.

Zarhym - Update on Retribution Paladin Bug

The bug where paladin Seals could sometimes cause excessive damage has been fixed. This bug came as a result of a hotfix we put in to fix an issue where some attacks, such as Scatter Shot, were still causing Vengeance in PvP situations. While these things may seem totally unrelated, it has to do with our proc system, which is an extremely complicated mechanic under the hood. We reverted that hotfix, meaning you may sometimes see Vengeance in PvP. But we don't think that will present a major balance concern at this time.

To be clear, we have no current plans to take action against players who experienced this bug last night unless we come across any extreme cases. The error was ours and we haven't seen any evidence -- so far -- of players excessively exploiting the bug. We reserve the right to take action if we do find evidence of players crossing the line to repeatedly exploit this bug for major in-game advantages.

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I won't lie, I find this fascinating. The idea that the issue lies in a system that on the surface would seem totally unrelated gives me the shivers just imagining what it must be like to maintain and advance the design for code that's been around for years and years. I have to agree that letting Vengeance sometimes pop up in PvP is probably the better option. It's only going to happen in an extremely limited set of circumstances, anyway.

I'm also glad only extreme edge cases will be seeing bans, as I had no idea the bug even existed while leveling my ret paladin last night and only figured it out afterwards.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.

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