Lloren
Christian Gamers Alliance Forums Administrator
whoa. that was unexpected. will we be seeing cross-server chat or guilds developing?
Wow cataclysm
- Thread starter Dradow(MrFuzzy)
- Start date
whoa. that was unexpected. will we be seeing cross-server chat or guilds developing?
nattyg
New Member
x server chat - yes, that's the whole battle.net integration. not just x server, but x GAME, i.e. i can chat w/ someone in WoW while playing SC2 and I can see what game they're on at the time. it's some pretty sweet stuff they're doing.
CGamer
Gnome Priest
The cross-platform chat has long been a feature of Battle.net back in the very beginning people from Diablo 1/2/Exp, SC/BW, Warcraft2/3 could all talk to each other.
Okay, after reading the Cataclysm FAQ, even I'm interested in seeing what Blizzard does with the next expansion. It helps that the expansion seems to be centered around fan requests: The return of Deathwing, the introduction of Goblins and Worgen as playable races, and re-tooling lower level areas to make things more interesting for levels 1-60. I really like that some areas will actually look rejuvenated (yes, I even watched the trailer on the Blizzard site). It seems Blizzard is looking to shake things up.
I still doubt I'll drop the $100+ to purchase the game then pay $15 a month to play, but I tip my hat to Blizzard for the design philosophy behind the expansion, regardless of whether or not the release product follows through on promises made.
I still doubt I'll drop the $100+ to purchase the game then pay $15 a month to play, but I tip my hat to Blizzard for the design philosophy behind the expansion, regardless of whether or not the release product follows through on promises made.
Lloren
Christian Gamers Alliance Forums Administrator
So far they have been pretty good about this. Timelines are pretty far out though. I suspect with 3.3 coming this fall that we won't see the xpac until next summer or late fall.
galatian
Active Member
im honestly really excited about the xpac and coming back sounds all fun and dandy but its so... time consuming!
Odale
Active Member
That is something the game has always been...
Flamethrøwer
New Member
The game is $100+? Or did you mean the game, plus monthly fees are over $100?
Mordos
New Member
Game plus 3 x-pacs... Although I would think soon Blizz will release a package of all but the current, with the current build. SoE did this with EQ, but EQ had like 5 x-pacs at the time
nattyg
New Member
i don't remember that...are you talking about in the lobby or within the game itself while you were playing?
CGamer
Gnome Priest
The lobby is what I was referring to. I see it as being a feasible option in the next XPac but then again, I'm not sure if Blizz would be willing to invest the time for chat options from within WoW itself, it would require a huge recoding of older games for it to work, or either just add the features to Cataclysm and SC2 solely.
nattyg
New Member
that's what they're doing...you'll be able to chat directly *in game* to people using other games, with at least SC2 and WoW supporting that capability
Dradow(MrFuzzy)
New Member
Blizzard employees are already back to work and there are already a handful of blue posts related to the expansion.
Shadowmourne is not for hunters!
Turns out that Shadowmourne for hunters was another misinterpreted joke from Blizzard. (Don't blame it on me, it even was in the official recap of the panel!)
Quote from: Ghostcrawler (Source)
Anyone capable of using a two-handed axe can use Shadowmourne.
The stat allocation may not benefit hunters or shamans as much as warriors, DKs or paladins.
There is NO Cataclysm Beta for the moment
The first Cataclysm beta scam reached my mail today, time for a small warning.
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
As always, when there is a beta, we will announce it. Please be wary of any and all claims of a beta or alpha for the new expansion being held.
Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staff
Stats simplification
What we were finding is that in many cases things had just become so complicated that players were not making intelligent decisions based on their knowledge of how various stats benefited them. That sounds like what you wanted to have happened, but it really wasn't. Instead players would pull up a BiS list, or plug the item into a spreadsheet. If the answer was "upgrade" they equipped the item. We could pretty much just give the items a name and art and make all the stats not displayed.
If you were one of those players who picked up a piece and understood how armor pen vs. attack power benefited you or whether defense was still worth collecting after you had hit crit immunity, then you were in the minority. Hopefully we can get back to a system where eyeballing an item's stats has some chance of being right. (Source)
Guild Leveling System
Guild advancement is based on the performance of the top 20 producers within the guild. If you have a small guild of 20 (or less), then every person's contributions will count.
[...] If you have some down days, it's not going to affect the guild progress adversely. If you have great days, you'll be up at the top. Keep in mind, this is a great way to not penalize large guilds for having a lot of members and it's also a great way for small guilds to not feel as if they need to mass recruit to keep up with the larger guilds both. (Source)
No new classes for Draeneis
We didn't set out to slight the draenei. As I said on the first panel, we just didn't think any of the missing classes fit them.
[...] While we picked some race/class combinations that were on the edgier side of things, that does not give credence to all potential race/class combinations. Draenei have a very well-rounded complement of class selections as it is, and none of the remaining classes are where we want to take the story at this time. (Source)
Terrain changes in old zones
The terrain is not guaranteed to change in every zone, many zones are likely going to stay the same terrain-wise but the questing will get the clean up. (Source)
Reforging
It's too early to go into a lot of detail on the new features, but the basic idea here was to make an undesirable drop possibly more desirable. It still shouldn't compete with gear that is actually itemized for you.
As an example, letting so.
As an example, letting someone turn stamina into a dps stat is something we'd be unlikely to do (or at least impose a lot of restrictions) since that lets you turn an undesirable stat for most characters into something good.
Think of reforging more as a consolation prize or as a way to work around things like hit caps, and not the kind of thing that clever players are going to be able to use to vastly min max their character power. (Source)
Leveling easier in low level zones after the revamp
Yes, there are technically fewer brand new zones and fewer levels to level up through - but - in return for this there is a much cleaner leveling experience from start to finish and many other things. Think of it like this, would you rather have this cleaner leveling system, the guild leveling system, and the new path of the titans max-level progression system or more zones/dungeons to level up through?
We want to hear your thoughts on things especially since we are doing something very different this expansion, but if things don't become constructive the thread will be locked.
Cleaner leveling system? Are you referring to how the zones are being redone (i.e. Lordaeron zone level revamp)?
Yes. The new system will avoid requiring you to run back and forth between continents to find the right quests to do. Instead there will be a natural flow all the way through.
Also, are you guys going to increase the speed of leveling again, or is that remaining constant?
Hard to say, just making the system flow better will probably speed it up, but I am not sure that the actual number of experience points needed will change.
And with that in mind, lets say I roll an undead. What incentive do we have to explore say, Kalimdor? If I am a newbie starting out, and I can do everything by skipping along zone to zone in sight of the Undercity, doesn't that kinda kill the whole "big world" feel?
This goes into the "your choice" category. Would you prefer to hit all the zones in Eastern Kingdoms like Arathi Highlands and both of the Plaguelands or swing over to see what has happened in Stonetalon Mountains and Desolace? You can enjoy one area with one character and then hit the others on another too. We like the idea of giving players more options.
Druid
Treants
Treants do fine damage, but it's not terribly exciting. It's nothing that couldn't be accomplished by a spell that just did damage instead. The water elemental (less so the other elementals) and the shaman wolves are more interesting temp pets. (Source)
Paladin
Tauren Paladin Mount
Tauren would certainly look strange on an armored charger, wouldn't they? We're keeping this in mind. You'll see. Wink (Source)
Draeinei Paladin Mount
We're thinking about this, too. (Source)
Rogue
Daggers
We drop daggers in raids. The only people who are super interested in them are Assassination rogues, but they have fallen behind Combat. We might boost Assassination without buffing its burst. Probably not through a new talent. (Source)
Shadowmourne is not for hunters!
Turns out that Shadowmourne for hunters was another misinterpreted joke from Blizzard. (Don't blame it on me, it even was in the official recap of the panel!)
Quote from: Ghostcrawler (Source)
Anyone capable of using a two-handed axe can use Shadowmourne.
The stat allocation may not benefit hunters or shamans as much as warriors, DKs or paladins.
There is NO Cataclysm Beta for the moment
The first Cataclysm beta scam reached my mail today, time for a small warning.
Quote from: Nethaera (Source)
As always, when there is a beta, we will announce it. Please be wary of any and all claims of a beta or alpha for the new expansion being held.
Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staff
Stats simplification
What we were finding is that in many cases things had just become so complicated that players were not making intelligent decisions based on their knowledge of how various stats benefited them. That sounds like what you wanted to have happened, but it really wasn't. Instead players would pull up a BiS list, or plug the item into a spreadsheet. If the answer was "upgrade" they equipped the item. We could pretty much just give the items a name and art and make all the stats not displayed.
If you were one of those players who picked up a piece and understood how armor pen vs. attack power benefited you or whether defense was still worth collecting after you had hit crit immunity, then you were in the minority. Hopefully we can get back to a system where eyeballing an item's stats has some chance of being right. (Source)
Guild Leveling System
Guild advancement is based on the performance of the top 20 producers within the guild. If you have a small guild of 20 (or less), then every person's contributions will count.
[...] If you have some down days, it's not going to affect the guild progress adversely. If you have great days, you'll be up at the top. Keep in mind, this is a great way to not penalize large guilds for having a lot of members and it's also a great way for small guilds to not feel as if they need to mass recruit to keep up with the larger guilds both. (Source)
No new classes for Draeneis
We didn't set out to slight the draenei. As I said on the first panel, we just didn't think any of the missing classes fit them.
[...] While we picked some race/class combinations that were on the edgier side of things, that does not give credence to all potential race/class combinations. Draenei have a very well-rounded complement of class selections as it is, and none of the remaining classes are where we want to take the story at this time. (Source)
Terrain changes in old zones
The terrain is not guaranteed to change in every zone, many zones are likely going to stay the same terrain-wise but the questing will get the clean up. (Source)
Reforging
It's too early to go into a lot of detail on the new features, but the basic idea here was to make an undesirable drop possibly more desirable. It still shouldn't compete with gear that is actually itemized for you.
As an example, letting so.
As an example, letting someone turn stamina into a dps stat is something we'd be unlikely to do (or at least impose a lot of restrictions) since that lets you turn an undesirable stat for most characters into something good.
Think of reforging more as a consolation prize or as a way to work around things like hit caps, and not the kind of thing that clever players are going to be able to use to vastly min max their character power. (Source)
Leveling easier in low level zones after the revamp
Yes, there are technically fewer brand new zones and fewer levels to level up through - but - in return for this there is a much cleaner leveling experience from start to finish and many other things. Think of it like this, would you rather have this cleaner leveling system, the guild leveling system, and the new path of the titans max-level progression system or more zones/dungeons to level up through?
We want to hear your thoughts on things especially since we are doing something very different this expansion, but if things don't become constructive the thread will be locked.
Cleaner leveling system? Are you referring to how the zones are being redone (i.e. Lordaeron zone level revamp)?
Yes. The new system will avoid requiring you to run back and forth between continents to find the right quests to do. Instead there will be a natural flow all the way through.
Also, are you guys going to increase the speed of leveling again, or is that remaining constant?
Hard to say, just making the system flow better will probably speed it up, but I am not sure that the actual number of experience points needed will change.
And with that in mind, lets say I roll an undead. What incentive do we have to explore say, Kalimdor? If I am a newbie starting out, and I can do everything by skipping along zone to zone in sight of the Undercity, doesn't that kinda kill the whole "big world" feel?
This goes into the "your choice" category. Would you prefer to hit all the zones in Eastern Kingdoms like Arathi Highlands and both of the Plaguelands or swing over to see what has happened in Stonetalon Mountains and Desolace? You can enjoy one area with one character and then hit the others on another too. We like the idea of giving players more options.
Druid
Treants
Treants do fine damage, but it's not terribly exciting. It's nothing that couldn't be accomplished by a spell that just did damage instead. The water elemental (less so the other elementals) and the shaman wolves are more interesting temp pets. (Source)
Paladin
Tauren Paladin Mount
Tauren would certainly look strange on an armored charger, wouldn't they? We're keeping this in mind. You'll see. Wink (Source)
Draeinei Paladin Mount
We're thinking about this, too. (Source)
Rogue
Daggers
We drop daggers in raids. The only people who are super interested in them are Assassination rogues, but they have fallen behind Combat. We might boost Assassination without buffing its burst. Probably not through a new talent. (Source)
Dradow(MrFuzzy)
New Member
-Some of this info has a little more detail so-
Rated Battlegrounds
* Rated Battlegrounds will be an alternative way to get arena points.
* Each week, one of the BG will be the Rated Battleground of the week. Winning in this battleground will improve your rating and give you points. Losing will not lower your rating.
* New PvP titles will be added, as your rating progress you will unlock higher titles. If you earned a PvP title you will keep it.
* When a Battleground is rated for the week, its normal non-rated version will still be available.
* The amount of Arena Points will be limited to prevent grinding.
* You will also earn guild level by playing these rated battlegrounds with your guildmates.
Tol'barad
* Tol'barad is a mix of Lake Wintergrasp and the Isle of Quel'danas.
* Every x hours the Daily Quests of the zone will shutdown and players will fight to capture the control points, the first team to get all of them wins.
* The winning team gets access to better daily quests rewarding more gold/better items.
Guild Leveling
* Guild experience is earned through multiple ways, players leveling, killing bosses, leveling professions, PvP victories, reputations.
* Each guild level rewards you with one talent point, these talents affect the whole guild. The top 20 earners of the guild will contribute to the guild experience for the day.
* Some of the guild talents will allow you to remove reagent costs from spell, get increased gold drops, summon your entire raid, rez your entire raid after a wipe, automatically transfer a % of gold dropped by bosses to the guild bank. Guild talents can be reset.
* Once your guild reached level 20, the guild experience becomes a currency and let you buy things like mounts, professions plans, banners, potions, rare reagents and guild talent respecs.
* Anyone can learn a guild profession recipe, if you leave the guild after learning it you will loose the recipe and it will be transferred back to the guild bank. Guild heirlooms also work the same way and are bound to the guild.
Guild Interface
* Guilds will have their own achievements, some of the old achievements might be converted to guild achievements. Some of the achievements are building a legendary item, maxing out every profession, etc ...
* A guild news feed will be added, it will shows boss kills, items looted, it will come with different filters to let you find specific information.
* You can now check the professions of every members of your guild and check their recipes list to see if they can create an item.
* You will also be able to invite other guilds to your guild events through the in-game calendar.
Mastery system
* There are too many talents right now and a lot of them are boring and just give passive bonuses. (1% hit bonus, etc ...)
* The goal is to make talents more fun and useful, Body and Soul or Juggernaut are a good example.
* The old passive bonuses will be automatically added to your character through the Mastery system as you spend more points in a talent tree. Spending a lot of points in Fury will give you extra crit, etc ... this will be implemented for all classes.
* Mastery bonuses will lower energy cost, increase your armor penetration, etc ...
Path of the Titans
* Character progression slows down drastically at level 80. Players will improve their character through the Path of the Titan by using the new Archeology profession.
* Archeology rewards you with "Ancient Glyphs" and give you bonuses reduced damage, reduced stun duration, etc ...
* They are NOT inscription glyphs and are totally different, as you progress after level 85 you will earn points to buy more glyphs. They are tied to your talent specialization and cannot be respecced.
* You will eventually get all your ancient glyphs, but hardcore players will get them faster. There will be a weekly limit to how fast you can get them.
Path of the Titans
Here is an official description of the Path of the Titans sytem by Aratil from the official systems panel write up.
Quote from: Aratil (Source)
Path of the Titans
Path of the Titans is another great new feature we covered that encompasses rewarding progression at max level. This new feature implements a third new type of glyph called “Ancient Glyph,” and as you can see, it is themed after the titans. These special glyphs are not associated with the Inscription tradeskill, and are also not specific to any class.
You’re able to unlock a path and progress within that path as you continuously engage in different aspects of the game. As you advance, you will be able to unlock special glyph sockets for your character. You can also respec your path at any time, in case you decide to change your path.
You earn these ancient glyphs by using the new Archaeology secondary profession to recover and trade in titan artifacts. Each path will have 2-3 choices per rank, and again, you can respec if you decide to go down another path.
- Path of Aman’Thul, the High Father
- Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder
- Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver
- Path of Khaz’Goroth, the Shaper
- Path of Aggramar, the Avenger
- Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer
You can earn progress down any of these paths by doing things such as questing, raiding, PvP, trade skills, etc., with a possible weekly cap for maximum progress. Over time, you’ll be able to unlock new ancient glyphs that will greatly benefit your character.
This new system will be accessible to all players at max level. Players will eventually be able to reach new ranks for ancient glyphs, encouraging them to further develop their characters. There is also a possibility that we will introduce whole new paths in future content patches.
Rated Battlegrounds
* Rated Battlegrounds will be an alternative way to get arena points.
* Each week, one of the BG will be the Rated Battleground of the week. Winning in this battleground will improve your rating and give you points. Losing will not lower your rating.
* New PvP titles will be added, as your rating progress you will unlock higher titles. If you earned a PvP title you will keep it.
* When a Battleground is rated for the week, its normal non-rated version will still be available.
* The amount of Arena Points will be limited to prevent grinding.
* You will also earn guild level by playing these rated battlegrounds with your guildmates.
Tol'barad
* Tol'barad is a mix of Lake Wintergrasp and the Isle of Quel'danas.
* Every x hours the Daily Quests of the zone will shutdown and players will fight to capture the control points, the first team to get all of them wins.
* The winning team gets access to better daily quests rewarding more gold/better items.
Guild Leveling
* Guild experience is earned through multiple ways, players leveling, killing bosses, leveling professions, PvP victories, reputations.
* Each guild level rewards you with one talent point, these talents affect the whole guild. The top 20 earners of the guild will contribute to the guild experience for the day.
* Some of the guild talents will allow you to remove reagent costs from spell, get increased gold drops, summon your entire raid, rez your entire raid after a wipe, automatically transfer a % of gold dropped by bosses to the guild bank. Guild talents can be reset.
* Once your guild reached level 20, the guild experience becomes a currency and let you buy things like mounts, professions plans, banners, potions, rare reagents and guild talent respecs.
* Anyone can learn a guild profession recipe, if you leave the guild after learning it you will loose the recipe and it will be transferred back to the guild bank. Guild heirlooms also work the same way and are bound to the guild.
Guild Interface
* Guilds will have their own achievements, some of the old achievements might be converted to guild achievements. Some of the achievements are building a legendary item, maxing out every profession, etc ...
* A guild news feed will be added, it will shows boss kills, items looted, it will come with different filters to let you find specific information.
* You can now check the professions of every members of your guild and check their recipes list to see if they can create an item.
* You will also be able to invite other guilds to your guild events through the in-game calendar.
Mastery system
* There are too many talents right now and a lot of them are boring and just give passive bonuses. (1% hit bonus, etc ...)
* The goal is to make talents more fun and useful, Body and Soul or Juggernaut are a good example.
* The old passive bonuses will be automatically added to your character through the Mastery system as you spend more points in a talent tree. Spending a lot of points in Fury will give you extra crit, etc ... this will be implemented for all classes.
* Mastery bonuses will lower energy cost, increase your armor penetration, etc ...
Path of the Titans
* Character progression slows down drastically at level 80. Players will improve their character through the Path of the Titan by using the new Archeology profession.
* Archeology rewards you with "Ancient Glyphs" and give you bonuses reduced damage, reduced stun duration, etc ...
* They are NOT inscription glyphs and are totally different, as you progress after level 85 you will earn points to buy more glyphs. They are tied to your talent specialization and cannot be respecced.
* You will eventually get all your ancient glyphs, but hardcore players will get them faster. There will be a weekly limit to how fast you can get them.
Path of the Titans
Here is an official description of the Path of the Titans sytem by Aratil from the official systems panel write up.
Quote from: Aratil (Source)
Path of the Titans
Path of the Titans is another great new feature we covered that encompasses rewarding progression at max level. This new feature implements a third new type of glyph called “Ancient Glyph,” and as you can see, it is themed after the titans. These special glyphs are not associated with the Inscription tradeskill, and are also not specific to any class.
You’re able to unlock a path and progress within that path as you continuously engage in different aspects of the game. As you advance, you will be able to unlock special glyph sockets for your character. You can also respec your path at any time, in case you decide to change your path.
You earn these ancient glyphs by using the new Archaeology secondary profession to recover and trade in titan artifacts. Each path will have 2-3 choices per rank, and again, you can respec if you decide to go down another path.
- Path of Aman’Thul, the High Father
- Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder
- Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver
- Path of Khaz’Goroth, the Shaper
- Path of Aggramar, the Avenger
- Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer
You can earn progress down any of these paths by doing things such as questing, raiding, PvP, trade skills, etc., with a possible weekly cap for maximum progress. Over time, you’ll be able to unlock new ancient glyphs that will greatly benefit your character.
This new system will be accessible to all players at max level. Players will eventually be able to reach new ranks for ancient glyphs, encouraging them to further develop their characters. There is also a possibility that we will introduce whole new paths in future content patches.
Last edited:
Dradow(MrFuzzy)
New Member
Quote from Blizzard staff
Race and Faction Changes ETA
Cataclysm was just announced so it will be awhile before we have systems fully decided upon for it, especially since the paid faction change service isn't even out yet. That said I wouldn't be surprised if there were some restrictions to avoid people making level 80s of the new races on day 1, nothing is set in stone though so we will have to wait and see. (Source)
Reforging
Imagine reforging could work like enchanting, where there are specific recipes that everyone knows. Example: "Converts Spirit into 50% equivalent hit rating on gloves."
I'm not saying it would work like this, but something along those lines would be pretty comparable to existing features. (Source)
Titan's Path
Philosophically, it works like this. Leveling up is fun. You get new gear constantly, and every time you ding, you get new stats, new ranks of spells and possibly new spells. You improve every single hour you play, if not more frequently.
When you hit max level, this really slows down. If you raid or PvP you might get a new item once a week if you're lucky, and aside from gear, rewards are very infrequent.
The idea behind the paths is to offer max-level character progression over time that isn't tied to gear.
The feature is much more robust than this, but at a very conceptual level imagine that at level 85 you got a new talent point every week just for logging in. The rewards are slower than during the leveling period, but they are rewards that exist independent of gear. However on the other hand, you don't feel the need to race through them (in fact you can't) if you are focused on getting to max level and they don't bloat your spellbook with as many abilities as gaining actual whole levels (though they will add a few). Over time, the actual discussions about how to build a character will likely change and evolve in interesting ways. The new point might give you a reason to log in on non-raid nights or even if you've gotten a little burned out on raiding.
The mantra is "gated, not grindy." They will require you to do something, but they are also designed with the idea that you can't kill yourself trying to blast through them as fast as possible. (Source)
Why not one slide per class at Blizzcon?
For last year's Blizzcon we did a slide per class, but that meant the amount of detail we could offer was almost trivial (and particularly annoying for hybrids). There is no way to offer as much detail as players are looking for unless we have the DK panel, etc.
[...] I'm not sure the 10 minute summary of 10 classes would have worked well. Last year for instance we had one slide on priests and only really covered Mind Sear, so all of the healing priests were like "What about us?"
The class panel has always been popular, so they started offering it twice even before I got to Blizzard. There are probably other ways to do it though. Maybe you make the class panel really long the first time and make the second one just about Q&A. You have to think that we're going to have even more information to cover (and questions to answer) once Diablo and SC have shipped so maybe it will be even harder to justify doing a class panel twice.
If we hadn't covered items, then we could have done more classes. But the item changes were just as important. We could have put items with dungeons or systems, but those were busy too. Basically, we had a ton of info to share and only 2 days. Smiley
Handling questions asked on the floor is just as tricky as handling those asked on the forums. They may not be important to you, but they could be very important to the gal or guy asking the question. It doesn't seem fair to tell some people their issues aren't worthy before they even get to ask.
I don't have any great answers for how to handle it, but as with everything we do, we'll keep striving to improve it. (Source)
Reasons behind the item stats changes in Cataclysm
I find many of these arguments to be elitist. This is not a "catering to the casuals" issue. This is an issue that even some of our most educated and math-savy players could not make gear decisions without the help of external tools. We're much less concerned about more casual players because the specific choice of upgrade will mean less for them (skill outweighs the contribution of stats for all but the absolute best players) and they often choose pieces based on things like art over stats.
I'm talking about very hardcore raiders who no longer could eyeball a piece of gear with any degree of authority. I might believe that some very few of you are so proficient with the math as to be able to eyeball the stats, but I think you are vastly overestimating the number of players who can or do. Remember, the formula to convert armor penetration into damage was so complicated that we had to take the unusual step of actually spelling out how it was calculated.
With this change will you still have to make hard choices about upgrading? Absolutely. Will there still be quasi-religious debates about which neck is best in slot for a given spec? Of course. Will you still need to understand the mechanics to make the best choice for your character? We think so. One of our overall design philosophies for WoW (and Blizzard) is to be simple but have a lot of depth. Some people mistake needless complexity for depth.
Meanwhile, we think there is a lot of benefit of getting rid of problematic stats like defense and accomplishing things like letti
Race and Faction Changes ETA
Cataclysm was just announced so it will be awhile before we have systems fully decided upon for it, especially since the paid faction change service isn't even out yet. That said I wouldn't be surprised if there were some restrictions to avoid people making level 80s of the new races on day 1, nothing is set in stone though so we will have to wait and see. (Source)
Reforging
Imagine reforging could work like enchanting, where there are specific recipes that everyone knows. Example: "Converts Spirit into 50% equivalent hit rating on gloves."
I'm not saying it would work like this, but something along those lines would be pretty comparable to existing features. (Source)
Titan's Path
Philosophically, it works like this. Leveling up is fun. You get new gear constantly, and every time you ding, you get new stats, new ranks of spells and possibly new spells. You improve every single hour you play, if not more frequently.
When you hit max level, this really slows down. If you raid or PvP you might get a new item once a week if you're lucky, and aside from gear, rewards are very infrequent.
The idea behind the paths is to offer max-level character progression over time that isn't tied to gear.
The feature is much more robust than this, but at a very conceptual level imagine that at level 85 you got a new talent point every week just for logging in. The rewards are slower than during the leveling period, but they are rewards that exist independent of gear. However on the other hand, you don't feel the need to race through them (in fact you can't) if you are focused on getting to max level and they don't bloat your spellbook with as many abilities as gaining actual whole levels (though they will add a few). Over time, the actual discussions about how to build a character will likely change and evolve in interesting ways. The new point might give you a reason to log in on non-raid nights or even if you've gotten a little burned out on raiding.
The mantra is "gated, not grindy." They will require you to do something, but they are also designed with the idea that you can't kill yourself trying to blast through them as fast as possible. (Source)
Why not one slide per class at Blizzcon?
For last year's Blizzcon we did a slide per class, but that meant the amount of detail we could offer was almost trivial (and particularly annoying for hybrids). There is no way to offer as much detail as players are looking for unless we have the DK panel, etc.
[...] I'm not sure the 10 minute summary of 10 classes would have worked well. Last year for instance we had one slide on priests and only really covered Mind Sear, so all of the healing priests were like "What about us?"
The class panel has always been popular, so they started offering it twice even before I got to Blizzard. There are probably other ways to do it though. Maybe you make the class panel really long the first time and make the second one just about Q&A. You have to think that we're going to have even more information to cover (and questions to answer) once Diablo and SC have shipped so maybe it will be even harder to justify doing a class panel twice.
If we hadn't covered items, then we could have done more classes. But the item changes were just as important. We could have put items with dungeons or systems, but those were busy too. Basically, we had a ton of info to share and only 2 days. Smiley
Handling questions asked on the floor is just as tricky as handling those asked on the forums. They may not be important to you, but they could be very important to the gal or guy asking the question. It doesn't seem fair to tell some people their issues aren't worthy before they even get to ask.
I don't have any great answers for how to handle it, but as with everything we do, we'll keep striving to improve it. (Source)
Reasons behind the item stats changes in Cataclysm
I find many of these arguments to be elitist. This is not a "catering to the casuals" issue. This is an issue that even some of our most educated and math-savy players could not make gear decisions without the help of external tools. We're much less concerned about more casual players because the specific choice of upgrade will mean less for them (skill outweighs the contribution of stats for all but the absolute best players) and they often choose pieces based on things like art over stats.
I'm talking about very hardcore raiders who no longer could eyeball a piece of gear with any degree of authority. I might believe that some very few of you are so proficient with the math as to be able to eyeball the stats, but I think you are vastly overestimating the number of players who can or do. Remember, the formula to convert armor penetration into damage was so complicated that we had to take the unusual step of actually spelling out how it was calculated.
With this change will you still have to make hard choices about upgrading? Absolutely. Will there still be quasi-religious debates about which neck is best in slot for a given spec? Of course. Will you still need to understand the mechanics to make the best choice for your character? We think so. One of our overall design philosophies for WoW (and Blizzard) is to be simple but have a lot of depth. Some people mistake needless complexity for depth.
Meanwhile, we think there is a lot of benefit of getting rid of problematic stats like defense and accomplishing things like letti