Posts with tag q-and-a

Fear not, my fellow druids; your feral analysis post is going live later tonight, and resto sometime tomorrow. Daniel Whitcomb and I have been talking about the incoming changes to the spec, and particularly the decision to change the tree of life from a constant form into a cooldown. I honestly didn't know how to feel about it at first. But before we get to that, Ghostcrawler stayed up hellaciously late last night to answer questions from druid players about the Cataclysm changes currently planned, and we've collected all of them here for you.

Like its last incarnation, the latest Q&A from WoW developers over Twitter was full of some great information, both about the current expansion and what's coming next with Cataclysm. Even better, you didn't even need to be on Twitter to read it, for those still hemming and hawing over social networking being a big fad they don't get.

We found out a few choice tidbits about Cataclysm, including what's going on with the Blasted Lands revamp, the possibility of more old-world heroics like Shadowfang Keep and Deadmines, and the state of the Plaguelands after Arthas' defeat. How Tol Barad will (and won't) be like Wintergrasp also came up.

We also learned a bit about Wrath's design philosophy, including what Blizzard liked about Wrath (questing), what they didn't like (limited attempts on bosses), and what's sticking around for Cataclysm (Dungeon Finder).

And that stuff's only the tip of the iceberg. What was in the Q&A that spoke to you personally? What are you excited about now that some of these questions have been answered?

Well, readers, BlizzCon 2009 is over and done, and our staff is slowly but surely beginning to make its way home in celebrated zombie-like fashion. In the meantime, we've outsourced article production to our household pets, so be gentle with your criticism of Toonces' efforts today (stupid cat can't even spell QQ correctly). Anyway, here's what happened on Day 2 of BlizzCon:

• SATURDAY'S PANELS: We liveblogged the panels on Breaking Into the Industry, the general World of Warcraft Q&A, WoW Game Systems, the Dungeons and Raids panel (which included information on both Icecrown Citadel and Cataclysm content) and the second WoW Class Discussion panel.
• NEW FEATURES ANNOUNCED: Blizzard announced a long-awaited feature in the form of cross-server instances, which should dramatically increase the pool of people available to run a 5-man at any given time. We won't have to wait for the expansion; they believe it should be ready to go live in patch 3.3. Another long-awaited feature will make its debut in the form of rated battlegrounds and arena points from wins. A beloved feature of the old honor system -- ranked (and faction-specific) PvP titles! -- will also return.
  
• WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WE'RE ALL &$#*%*^ED NOW: Cataclysm continued its storm through the con, and we've got in-depth looks at an array of the announced features. Read on for a look at the Cataclysm narrative, tanks and the removal of +defense, an explanation of the Mastery system and new talent functionality, what we know about the Path of the Titans, the introduction of guild leveling and talents, the known dungeons of Cataclysm, and what we can expect to see in patch 3.3's Icecrown Citadel raid and 5-mans.
  
• PATCH 3.2.2: On the subject of Wrath game patches, Matt Rossi takes a look at the most eagerly-anticipated part of patch 3.2.2, the return of Onyxia.
• LIVE RAID: The top-ranked U.S. guild, Premonition, did a live raid against a series of selected bosses, falling eventually to...Hogger? No one saw that coming.
• CLASS AND ROLE COMMENTARY: Zach Yonzon and Eddie Carrington respectively have you covered on Warlock and Hunter information from at the Class Q&A panels, Christian Belt's written his column on Cataclysm and Mages, and Matticus examines the information released on stat changes and their likely repercussions for healers.
• VIDEOS: We have additional video of the new Worgen and Goblin starting areas, the finalists and winner of the costume contest, and the Dance and Soundalike contest.
  

The second and final class, item, and profession panel has concluded. Disappointingly, the presentation part of the panel was mainly a re-run of yesterday's, but the Q&A, of course, was all-new. There were even a few new tidbits in the presentation. Here are some parts of the presentation that are not repeats from yesterday:

• They didn't give any new classes to Draenei because there are too many of the space goats already.
• There's a chance that Hunter Aspects will go away entirely.
• New tidbit on Archaeology: putting pieces of artifacts together sends you to "face some sort of challenge" out in the world.
• They like the way fishing works in Animal Crossing, and might look to that for inspiration on how to rework the process.

And here are the good parts from the Q&A:

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Today is a day of, apparently, quick questions and quick answers. Most of the questions asked were fairly straightforward and not particularly involved. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is really up to you, but it is what it is: simple. I planned to embed a cartoon at the top of this video, but the aspect ratio made it gigantic if I used our standard width, so there's a link instead.

whalt asked...

"Any idea if prior season PvP weapons will ever be available from honor/arena points and not require an arena rating like the old Glad weapons were back in BC?"

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we talk about the Rogue Q & A recently released by Blizzard.

Last week, Blizzard released the long-awaited (at least by me) Rogue Q&A series. Ghostcrawler and the rest of the community team answered many of our long-standing questions, and gave us some insight into where Rogues are headed as a class. You can read the full details of the Q&A that Eliah posted for us.

After reading the questions and answers, I breathed a sigh of relief. No hints or indications of any nerfs coming our way, and Blizzard actually acknowledged several longstanding flaws with the class. Not only that, but they actually provided possible solutions; I'll be taking them with a grain of salt. New Rogues are excited about our class' complexity and diversity, while experienced Rogues are proud that we are now respected as damage dealers instead of being seen as second-class DPS.

The highlights are after the cut.

Our resident Holy Priest guru tackled the healy bits of the Priest Q&A recently, and I've been mulling over the various Shadow commentary in the meantime. Going into the Q&A being fully aware that it wasn't intended to be a list of changes coming to the class, and more a look into the current design around the classes, I honestly wasn't too disappointed with the Shadow items. It's a case where, with a few exceptions, I think Ghostcrawler (and the other developers) actually know what's going on with the spec quite well. You can try and call me out on that, but hey. It's the truth. As far as Shadow was concerned, it wasn't too far off.

The general spec overview at the beginning of the Q&A was pretty spot on. It's easy for us to get momentum in PvE and lay down the damage, but the nature of PvP/arena doesn't really let us do that. Our long buildup time is harsh. We don't lend ourselves well to stop-and-go. We're pretty much all about the 'go' and a little bit of 'stop' sets us back to where we started. There's really no picking up where you left off. If the opposing team locks you down for a little too long, you pretty much need to start over. Your offensive momentum is irrecoverable. PvE usually doens't have to worry about that. Now, from this point forward, I'm going to address each Shadow-relevant quote point by point.

First question:

"Q: Since a lot of the damage a Shadow priest does builds with damage-over-time (DoT) spells, are you concerned about them being well-rounded enough to do adequate damage in shorter PvE encounters, 5-player dungeons, or in the Arenas?

The priest Q&A has just been released. This is the final Q&A in the entire class Q&A series, and has some answers that many in the Priest community have been looking for. The Rogue Q&A was also released this afternoon.

Some of the highlights of the Priest Q&A include:

• The Shadow tree needs to have more talents which affect overall damage, and less on DoT only damage. This is so the Shadow Priest isn't penalized during encounters in which DoTs are not usable.
• Dispelling DoTs is not too easy right now.
• Regarding the Glyph of Mind Flay: "...at this point we don't think it would be a problem if the glyph just bumped the range without the penalty. It's probably too conservative a glyph."
• Blizzard is considering removing the backlash from Shadow Word: Death if the target is within Execute range.
• Blizzard recognizes the disparity between Greater Heal and Flash Heal, but doesn't really offer any solid solution.
• There are no concrete plans to change Lightwell into something useful.
• Blizzard is not happy that Dispels can miss, but they don't have an easy fix for it.

The full Q&A after the break.

The class Q&A series continues with Rogue, the stabbiest class. Look for a more complete analysis later; for now, here's a quick summary, with the full Q&A after the cut. Priest is now the only class left, but don't despair, my clerical friends – I'm sure they saved the best for last. I hope.

• Rogues are for DPS. Historically, they have been "selfish" - little group utility. Right now they have better utility and synergy.
• They've always been strong in PvP, because of stealth, stun, and burst.
• The devs are happy with the way the combo point/finisher system is working right now.
• A proposed solution for Vanish! "...Vanish puts you in stealth for 1 second minimum no matter what else happens."
• Hunger for Blood is meant to boost PvE damage without doing much for PvP, and as such it works, but is boring. Changes are in store for the long run. They want it to be more reactive, and also put it back into PvP.
• They would like to make Subtlety competitive in PvE, but if they make it too good players will all switch to it because of the utility. Long-term, some Sub utility might become core, or some damage from other trees might become core so the choice is utility vs utility (not utility vs damage).
• Rogues underperform in dungeons, as a consequence of scaling so well in raids. If you're not doing good DPS in raids, "the problem exists between the chair and the keyboard."
• Rogues are too survivable when they can use all their tricks on one target, and too squishy when they can't. Long-term, they want to move some survivability to passive abilities.
• Combat Daggers is dead because Blizzard thinks that it was clunky and unfun.
• Don't expect more class-specific content any time soon - they would like to do it, but it's low on the priority list.

The full Q&A from Ghostcrawler and friends is below.

Good day folks and welcome to Scattered Shots. The column that takes a good look at what it takes to be a Hunter in the World of Warcraft. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from the Hunting Lodge. This week we'll be reviewing the recently released Hunter Q&A.

The Hunter Q&A was like the other Class Q&As, a mixed bag of frustration, tease, and interesting concepts. It shouldn't be a surprise that we didn't get the details we wanted. Nor should it be a complete shock to you that some Hunters would feel disconnected between what players want versus what the Developers are concentrating on. Given all that, I still felt that this Q&A was overall pretty decent.

There is so much to review and discuss I've decided to break the Q&A out into 2 parts. Here's a quick highlight of the main things discussed in Part 1:

• Developers feel Survival Hunter spec is currently performing within normal operating parameters.
  
• Crowd Control still needs work.
• PvP has a big influence on PvE Class Balance
• Ammo remains a consumable because of technical difficulties.
  
• Ammo is a focus point on Hunter damage progression.
• Blizzard is hoping to cut the cost of Ammo to address the cost burden for Hunters.
• The Hunter "No Fire" zone will remain in effect.
• Development considers enhancing Hunter melee attacks.

All that is just in Part 1! So let's see what Ghostcrawler had to say.

Just days after the Druid Class Q&A, the blues have seen fit to post the Warrior edition. Look for in-depth analysis from our very own Warrior expert, Matt Rossi, soon. This purpose of this post is to get the news out there to you, dear readers, as fast as possible. Here's my very brief summary:

• Historically, Warriors have been dominant in tanking and competitive in DPS and PvP. Balance is in a "fairer place" now.
• Arms and Fury need a "hard look." They are happier with the Prot tree.
• "Arms is supposed to be about weapons and martial training and feel 'soldierly.' Fury is supposed to be about screaming barbarians in woad."
• They still want to get rid of stance penalties (like increased incoming damage in Berserker) eventually.
• In the future, Prot warriors will generate more rage through doing damage. Long-term, they need "a better solution to rage generation."
• "Block needs to be a percentage of damage blocked in order for the stat to do what we want" (though the frequency of block, and avoidance in general, would probably have to come down to compensate).
• They want tanks to not ignore DPS stats quite so much.
• Warriors have too much downtime when leveling.

Read on for the full Q&A with Ghostcrawler and friends.

You've probably heard that the Chinese guild Stars has pulled off the world-first Alone in the Darkness, killing Yogg-Saron with no watchers helping. You may have seen the video they posted of their winning strategy. But here's something even more interesting, for me: a Q&A with the guild about their strategy and their experience with the fight.

It was originally in Chinese, but a poster on the MMO-Champion forums did a translation. It's a really interesting read. For one thing, Affliction Warlocks turned out to be the most valuable class, since DPS have to turn away periodically in phase 3 to avoid Lunatic Gaze and a heavy DoT-based class doesn't lose as much doing this.

Once again, it's time for a Class Q&A with Ghostcrawler! Today Paladins get their chance to shine (previously: Shaman, Mage, Death Knight, Warlock).

As with the other Q&As, this one starts with a bit on what the idea is behind paladins, with a glance at their history and at their present.

• In the beginning: paladins were a "defensive buffing class...buffs were pretty much the entire reason you'd want to group with a paladin."
• End-game classic WoW: paladins were healers only.
• BC: paladins could tank, but were still mostly OTs.
• Wrath: "finally embraced all three specs."

Paladins still have several unique facets: bubbles, strong dispels, plate armor as a healer, and the Seal and Judgment system.

Itemization: so far in Wrath, MP5 wasn't particularly valuable, and they claim it wasn't inteded to be. They still think MP5 is undervalued right now, though, hence the buffs coming to it in patch 3.2. They also think Int/Crit based mana regen is a bit out of control, and furthermore than in patch 3.2, some Holy pallies might look into taking Haste.