AT World of Warcraft Thread (Cataclysm, Where do you play, General BS and all that)

[rh71]

Interesting change with 4.2; CC abilities that don't also have a damage component will no longer put the castter/target into a combat condition. Standard aggro radius affects will still apply.

nice, many times after sap we kill the others and I can't re-stealth cause of combat. But does this mean I'm the only one not in combat (the sapper)?

 

[Soccerman06]

It meens that as long as there is a decent range between you and the next mob, you will not enter combat and can restealth once the cd is up. However it may remember you because you were in melee range to sap it, but I doubt it.

 

[RatboyX]

Interesting I will need to see how this pans out for us hunters and see if that means our traps will no longer start the pull. Somehow I doubt that though.

 

[jhbball]

ANOTHER patch dumbing down the warrior class. Time to cancel after this arena season.

 

[Aikouka]

You won't be put in combat when you sap, but it doesn't say if the "link" effect still occurs. Such as if you pull one mob near another, it will engage the close-by mob.

Interesting I will need to see how this pans out for us hunters and see if that means our traps will no longer start the pull. Somehow I doubt that though.

Yes, that's what it means.

 

[randomrogue]

Magmaw: For normal just have ranged kill them and dodge pillars if you don't have a DK that can kite (start recruiting one). For Hard Mode though you need a kiter. Magmaw Hard Mode is one of the easier ones but if you didn't have a good kiter I imagine it would be a nightmare.

 

[randomrogue]

Bear Runs: If you're geared it's not difficult - just don't get too cocky. On our alts though you need to identify some of the harder parts and be prepared for it. The Dragonhawk boss is the one that stops us at 3 chests. Make up your mind ahead of time on how you're going to do it and definitely communicate this to any pugs you might have in the group. Letting all the eggs hatch all at once and burning the boss actually works really well but the healer should be careful not to pull aggro, be prepared to dispell the debuff, and the AOE needs to level the adds quick. A clutch brez does wonders. The trash before the Bear boss is another one. Don't let the bears run loose. CC is important on the Flamecasters as well as you head towards the Dragonhawk. Heading towards Lynx you should be able to avoid all the trash in the beginning. The pack before the boss requires special attention. The pack in the beginning of the instance can be skipped saving you a minute as well. Grab all the chests after you get your bear. Don't forget to flask and get a food buff. The Archeology buff might be worth picking up but I have no idea if it actually helps.

 

[Aikouka]

Magmaw: For normal just have ranged kill them and dodge pillars if you don't have a DK that can kite (start recruiting one). For Hard Mode though you need a kiter. Magmaw Hard Mode is one of the easier ones but if you didn't have a good kiter I imagine it would be a nightmare.

We're actually having a bit of trouble on Magmaw heroic. We had him down to 9% or so, but just ended up dying to all the damage. We'd usually put him to 35% or so, and then use Heroism on the next vulnerability phase. Then we'd have to kill the ~2 adds that are up. I wonder if what's causing a problem is that we use a lot of defensive/healing CDs in phase 1 with the spew rather than in phase 2.

 

[RatboyX]

You won't be put in combat when you sap, but it doesn't say if the "link" effect still occurs. Such as if you pull one mob near another, it will engage the close-by mob.



Yes, that's what it means.

I read the rest of the patch notes (OMG he read them? ) and sure enough that’s exactly what it’s going to do for hunters. Not a big thing but it will make the pulls less hectic.

 

[randomrogue]

We're actually having a bit of trouble on Magmaw heroic. We had him down to 9% or so, but just ended up dying to all the damage. We'd usually put him to 35% or so, and then use Heroism on the next vulnerability phase. Then we'd have to kill the ~2 adds that are up. I wonder if what's causing a problem is that we use a lot of defensive/healing CDs in phase 1 with the spew rather than in phase 2.

Have the tank hold the adds, stop all splash damage, and you've got it.

 

[RatboyX]

On my server, queue times for five man heroics have dropped from the 30 or so minutes to 10 to 15 minutes at worst. So apparently the plan Blizzard put in place to entice more tanks and healers to run PUGs is working…. Or is it?

I ran a random five man heroic last night and got Lost City. I’ve been getting a lot of Dead Mines and Stonecore so I think “Great a quick run for a change.”

I pop in and the group has already done the first boss but there is no healer. Not a good sign. We get a healer and the first thing the tank (Druid) says is “I have crap gear, fair warning to the healer”

The healer answers “Well let’s see how the next few pulls go”

A reasonable answer for a pug.

We do a few trash pulls and I’m watching the health on the tank. The healer is having a hard time keeping him alive on trash pulls so he stops after the second trash mob pack.

The healer says “I’m sorry I won’t heal a tank that is using sprit gear. Either the tank goes or I let the party wipe as many times as you want”

The “Tank” and now I am using the term loosely, responds “Well then WIPE it UP because I’m not going”

Ahhhhh now that is the kind of talk I expect in a PUG group. As I was completely out of popcorn I decide to initiate a kick of the “Tank” and thankfully everyone else voted the same way.

We get another tank and rip through the instance, as we should, in a very short time.

I’m thinking to myself WTH would that Druid come in to tank in healing gear? Then I remember the new reward system for the least represented class. I read a lot of predictions that the new LFG rewards would indeed just bring more sub par tanks and healers into pugs but really this is the first time I’ve seen it.

I do think letting people queue more than one random a night for Valor points is also helping drop the queue times. And as happened last night, people that try and tank when they shouldn’t will end up getting kicked just like this guy.

So maybe all in all the new rewards system is working, lets see how long it’s going to continue to work though. For me it’s becoming a moot point as I’m getting my last valor point item in the next few runs. Then there are the alts I need to run, and some of those are tanks LOL.

 

[Aikouka]

Have the tank hold the adds, stop all splash damage, and you've got it.

So you're saying we should ignore the adds in p2? I actually suggested that we stop killing the adds, but someone said that they will blow up . I knew they'd blow up if they hit 20%, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Chances are that would be enough to get it given the most of our DPS is available (i.e. not dead) at the beginning of phase 2 .

EDIT:

So maybe all in all the new rewards system is working, lets see how long it’s going to continue to work though. For me it’s becoming a moot point as I’m getting my last valor point item in the next few runs. Then there are the alts I need to run, and some of those are tanks LOL.

I don't even do heroics anymore, but given we did very little boss killing last night (and Tuesday is usually my only day to raid), I might need to do some troll heroics to get guild rep :\. Only two weeks of full rep and I'll get my phoenix mount. Then I can stop caring .

 

[randomrogue]

So you're saying we should ignore the adds in p2? I actually suggested that we stop killing the adds, but someone said that they will blow up . I knew they'd blow up if they hit 20%, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Chances are that would be enough to get it given the most of our DPS is available (i.e. not dead) at the beginning of phase 2 .

They only blow up if they are not dead by the time Armageddon goes off. So as long as you have no splash damage bringing them below 20% you're fine. In fact your wipes going forward will almost exclusively be due to players cleaving/splashing below 35%, when they aren't supposed to, and the adds blowing up the raid.

 

[lupi]

I haven't tried to lfg pug yet, but blizz also said they modified the lfg routine to have a preferennce to select same realm players. Since I'm in hi-pop, wonder if that will also help reduce waiting time a bit (at the detrement to the lo-popers of course. . )

 

[Aikouka]

They only blow up if they are not dead by the time Armageddon goes off. So as long as you have no splash damage bringing them below 20% you're fine. In fact your wipes going forward will almost exclusively be due to players cleaving/splashing below 35%, when they aren't supposed to, and the adds blowing up the raid.

Fortunately, I believe our raid has no non-forced AoE (i.e. Howling Blast). Feral Druid, Hunter, Warlock, Enhancement Shaman and a Shadow Priest is what we usually have. Although, I'm replacing an Elemental Shaman and tomorrow I think a DK will be in place of the priest... so as long as he isn't Frost, we will be fine.

 

[rh71]

random ZA/ZG times are said to be 40mins which is a step back... but I got queue pop in like 25 mins... strange stuff.

 

[rh71]

anyone know a simple addon that alerts you to NPC casts such as a simple heal so we can interrupt? Spellalerter and the like seem to be geared for PVP and don't alert on regular heals from NPCs.

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm we got H-Magmaw to 5% last night. I think the tank kept attacking an add and it hit 20%, but only a few of us switched to it, so it ended up blowing up :\. I don't think we really ever got that far again as something would always happen to screw us up. Kiter would randomly die to being out of range during a Spew, someone would DC, tank would fall off the edge and feral druid DPS took over tanking and no one else jumped on Magmaw.

We also had an issue where the off-tank gradually gets further and further out, and melee tend to stand behind mobs, so randomly we'd get the lava geyser thing getting placed right under melee. I tried to stick to the side of the add if possible (the right side -- so I was right beside Magmaw). The badly placed lava geysers definitely caused us some problems. They wanted to put the tank in a certain spot (between Magmaw and the spike), but the first thing I noticed when trying to do that is how hard it was to get the add in the right spot.

Was rather bummed about the 5%... I could feel that the mail physical DPS pants were going to drop and I could upgrade my non-heroic ones!

anyone know a simple addon that alerts you to NPC casts such as a simple heal so we can interrupt? Spellalerter and the like seem to be geared for PVP and don't alert on regular heals from NPCs.

Are there any specific NPCs that you're worried about? Most raid bosses have alerts built into DBM in regard to any interrupt. The only healing mobs in raids that I know of actually have rather weak heals (Dark Mender in BoT).

 

[lupi]

You can get a mod that shows casting bar of your target.

 

[rh71]

think I found something that works in Balyn's Spellalert

I use Icehud but the thing has such small text that I can't seem to adjust. I see the bar but what it's casting isn't quickly clear.

 

[RatboyX]

Was rather bummed about the 5%... I could feel that the mail physical DPS pants were going to drop and I could upgrade my non-heroic ones!

NAH, those wont drop until a day before they release the T12 set

I’ve found that some nights on a boss fight nothing goes right. I’m betting you will get him next time. And GL on the drops.

 

[Aikouka]

NAH, those wont drop until a day before they release the T12 set

I’ve found that some nights on a boss fight nothing goes right. I’m betting you will get him next time. And GL on the drops.

We haven't had the mail physical DPS bracers drop off Chimaeron yet. I don't think the Hunter will be at the raid tonight and I'll most likely not be subbing in, so I bet the bracers will drop .

I actually have the non-heroic version of the pants already, and since Enhancement Shaman T11 4-piece bonus is so bad, I can just use two other pieces. Although, I need to load up EnhSim sometime and see whether T11 2-piece + T11 non-heroic gloves > gloves from heroic Halfus.

 

[rh71]

woot got Baron's mount for doing Call To Arms: healer... got pulled in to ZG last boss and it took me 10 minutes... for 140 valor and the mount. Score.

 

[Powermoloch]

Ah good ol' WoW, I don't have the time for it anymore lols!

 

[lupi]

WoW Lost 600k Subscribers, down to 11.4M
Activision Blizzard's earning call was today and we learned, among other things, that the WoW playerbase is down to 11.4M players. That's 5% less than before the expansion and it seems that players went through the Cataclysm content faster than expected.

Blizzard also promised faster release of new content and expansions during the call.

From Curse.com
During today's Activision Blizzard earnings call, World of Warcraft and its expansion Cataclysm were two very hot topics. Listeners asked a number of questions related to the game, more than any other title or franchise in the publisher's stable.

Of note, World of Warcraft's subscriber base has reached pre-Cataclysm levels, according to Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment. He then later stated an actual number, with subscriptions at the end of March clocking in at right around 11.4 million.

That's down by about 5% from the announced 12 million mark late last year. Interestingly enough, that was right before Cataclysm released. In fact, it's actually lower than the milestone reached in 2008 with the release of Wrath of the Lich King.

But one important thing to point out, and Mr. Morhaime touched on this as well, is that World of Warcraft's subscriber base does not change linearly. It fluctuates based on content consumption, which players seem to be doing a whole lot of -- at a more rapid pace -- with Cataclysm. "Subscriber levels have decreased faster than previous expansions," he said.

Surprising? Not really. We have to remember that when these numbers were pulled, Cataclysm was in a bit of a lull. The expansion had been out for close to four months, and most of its content had been consumed by a large percentage of the player base -- aside from heroic raids.


Diablo 3 Public Beta in Q3 2011
The 2nd big interesting thing from the earning call was the announcement of Diablo 3's public beta in Q3 2011, it looks like the summer will be busy between Patch 4.2 and Diablo 3 ... For more Diablo related news, head to Diablofans.com.