Zagam & friends coming home! blizzcon review tonight!

[Zagam 1,982]

Hey guys I'm leaving LA in about 30 mins. Going to do a big write up about everything this weekend including thoughts, pictures, and all that jazz. I WILL be in mumble tonight when I get home which should be 1130 est. I'm off work so ill have everything up for tomorrow. I'm going to get some feedback from locky, zanzal, and omaric to make sure I didn't miss anything. Lots of cool things coming!

If I met you, thanks for coming up! It was a very memorable experience. Hearing that we've helped so many players is so damn rewarding. Its all I aim for here...I do this all for you. Make sure you're at the next blizzcon...we had a fantastic time that will only be better next year! Thanks all for being a part of this awesome, maybe the best, community for WoW!

Zagam/Chris

[Storm 426]

I have a ton of pictures to post too. I'm actually here in Anaheim until tomorrow morning, but now that most of the Blizzcon people are leaving I should hopefully be able to get some decent WiFi again, so I'll put everything in an imgur album later.

 

Definitely had a ton of fun out here, and it was great to get to meet everyone. I have a new goal this year: to get enough DK's to join the community that I can have an Icy-Veins DK meetup next year!

 

Oh and also we need to get big enough that we can all get press passes and stand in the short lines with Damien and Vlad

[Krippz 0]

Have a safe trip back. Looking forward to the debrief; hope you were able to ask class specific questions.

[Zagam 1,982]

Actually got some depressing class news. Warlocks being redesigned with snapshotting being removed. The reason was the skill cap was too high. In other words they feel its too difficult to be really good. So they're dumbing the game down. Good news for those who don't care to improve. Bad for those who enjoy a challenge. Well see as things develop.

[Demonolish 0]

i was really sad i couldn't make it this year cause im over seas :S maybe ill catch you guys next years blizzcon

 

 

other than that im getting mixed feelings of the latest blue posts about demons metamorph getting nerved 30% less dmg and touch of choas gives you more demonic fury >.> dafuq is gonna happen

Edited November 10, 2013 by Demonolish

[Khaos 5]

Actually got some depressing class news. Warlocks being redesigned with snapshotting being removed. The reason was the skill cap was too high. In other words they feel its too difficult to be really good. So they're dumbing the game down. Good news for those who don't care to improve. Bad for those who enjoy a challenge. Well see as things develop.

 

That's a joke right?

[Lockybalboa 618]

i was really sad i couldn't make it this year cause im over seas :S maybe ill catch you guys next years blizzcon

 

 

other than that im getting mixed feelings of the latest blue posts about demons metamorph getting nerved 30% less dmg and touch of choas gives you more demonic fury >.> dafuq is gonna happen

 

 

You're not reading it right. It's a beta lvl 100 talent atm, and it's amazing. Makes it so that you'll be in meta 100% uptime and kicking ass.

 

 

 

That's a joke right?

 

No. That's what the word is atm, removing dot snap shotting and reworking aff as a whole.

[Typecast 16]

Blizzard is trying to take the stand that requiring addons to play the game shouldn't be necessary. They took issue with Affdots being a required addons for locks that couldn't play the game and calculate the DoT strength themselves. Snapshotting really isn't the issue though, it's these stupid powerful trinkets.

[Omaric 246]

The trinkets were really just tests put in by Blizz to try out these new bonus enchants that you may or may not get off gear in WoD. I think it was the smart move, but unfortunately because Blizz thinks it was smart as well they have to make changes to some classes to open up easier balancing.

[Drafty53 17]

That's what the LFR culture has done. Its the reason why this "dumbing" down effect keeps happening so average joes who don't care to min/max can feel like they are still strong. I think between tactics like this and the mythic 20 man stunt (pigeon holing a lot of guilds/rosters imo), they may be upsetting a segment of their most loyal player base (the heroic minded raiders). Granted these are all subject to change over the next year but again, the dumbing down and mythic news were the only two things that me go wtf are they doing? Most of the other changes they announced I thought were very cool.

[Drafty53 17]

Oh and might I add, the quality of player in LFR in 5.4 is BY FAR the worst I have ever seen. The fact that some of these dumbdown mechanics (again, imo) are aimed at helping casual players is a disgrace. End game raiding should be geared towards players who actually put some effort in. It is not for everyone and I feel like they are trying to make the end game raiding content more and more accessible, which I think hurts the game because a lot of these people have no intention in treating end game raiding more than a normal dungeon.

Sorry for being all grumpy old manish on this topic...I just can't stand dumbdown mechanics when the game and end game content is in a great place. i think MoP had an incredible raid content to every tier and the difficulty was tuned pretty well. The comment about "add-ons should not be needed" scares me into thinking we are heading to a game that is becoming increasingly and increasingly easy, which I think will hurt Wow a ton in the long run.

[Sagnuts 1]

Blizzard is trying to take the stand that requiring addons to play the game shouldn't be necessary. They took issue with Affdots being a required addons for locks that couldn't play the game and calculate the DoT strength themselves. Snapshotting really isn't the issue though, it's these stupid powerful trinkets.

Affdots is not necessary by any means. Previous to it we tracked our procs. And if Affdots magically disappeared tomorrow, that's what we would do. Taking snapshotting away is insane. So all we have to do is reapply when our dots tick down? 

 

I'm done playing a lock. I'm tired of the Flavor of the expac aspect of warlocks now, all of the focus the devs put on them while barely touching others, and the continuation of "redesigning warlocks" in WoD. Blizz, move on to another classes dick already.

[Zagam 1,982]

That's what the LFR culture has done. Its the reason why this "dumbing" down effect keeps happening so average joes who don't care to min/max can feel like they are still strong. I think between tactics like this and the mythic 20 man stunt (pigeon holing a lot of guilds/rosters imo), they may be upsetting a segment of their most loyal player base (the heroic minded raiders). Granted these are all subject to change over the next year but again, the dumbing down and mythic news were the only two things that me go wtf are they doing? Most of the other changes they announced I thought were very cool.

You have to understand that 1-2% of players are heroic raiders.  The other 98% pays their subscriptions and pays for development, new content, and keeps Blizzard running.  Loyal or not, they can't alienate their cash flow.

 

Oh and might I add, the quality of player in LFR in 5.4 is BY FAR the worst I have ever seen. The fact that some of these dumbdown mechanics (again, imo) are aimed at helping casual players is a disgrace. End game raiding should be geared towards players who actually put some effort in. It is not for everyone and I feel like they are trying to make the end game raiding content more and more accessible, which I think hurts the game because a lot of these people have no intention in treating end game raiding more than a normal dungeon.

Sorry for being all grumpy old manish on this topic...I just can't stand dumbdown mechanics when the game and end game content is in a great place. i think MoP had an incredible raid content to every tier and the difficulty was tuned pretty well. The comment about "add-ons should not be needed" scares me into thinking we are heading to a game that is becoming increasingly and increasingly easy, which I think will hurt Wow a ton in the long run.

Quality of player in LFR went down because Heroic raiders no longer needed to go in to fill in pieces.  They had Flex, which was more organized and less of a pain in the ass.  LFR used to be Heroic raiders and players who didn't care enough.  Now it's just players who don't care enough.  Hence, the repetitive nerfs.  I'm with you in that I'm disappointed in the game feeling dumbed down, but we both have to try not to overreact yet because the xpac is AT LEAST 6 months away.

 

Affdots is not necessary by any means. Previous to it we tracked our procs. And if Affdots magically disappeared tomorrow, that's what we would do. Taking snapshotting away is insane. So all we have to do is reapply when our dots tick down? 

 

I'm done playing a lock. I'm tired of the Flavor of the expac aspect of warlocks now, all of the focus the devs put on them while barely touching others, and the continuation of "redesigning warlocks" in WoD. Blizz, move on to another classes dick already.

Affdots is absolutely necessary to maximize damage.  The only way it's not necessary is if you are tracking it by some other means to time procs.  Removing snapshotting will make every single DoT class just keep DoTs up and do your spells.  It will bring back "rotations" which is awful.

[Drafty53 17]

All true. I may have over-reacted a bit. I still think that classes should have challenging mechanics like snap-shotting DOTs at the right time for maximum damage (Just one example). Those kinds of mechanics are what separate the heroic minded raiders and the general wow player base. What I'm trying to get at, and doing a poor job of currently, is that mechanics like that are NEEDED to separate the different tiers of players.

I understand the broadest segment of players is what they want to cater to, or at least try and cater due to the fact that at the end of the day blizzard, and wow by extension, is a business trying to maximize profits to increase both their bottom line and the amount they can re-invest in the development of future expansions, games, etc. I might try and argue that the raiding segment of their player base might the most important to the game by example of the live raid on Saturday. thousands of people were not going to sit down for an hour and cheer on 5 different players to see who could compete a set of daily's the fastest...well maybe they would, but I doubt it. I also understand that the release of WoD is at least 6 month's out and probably even longer (BTW, I loved their continuous joking about blizzard always releasing stuff late at blizzcon). And even as a further qualifier, I also loved almost every thing they talked about associated with the changes in WoD. It sounds like it has potential to be another excellent expansion. So far I have loved MoP. I like Pandaria and I think the raid's and the fights in them have all been done extremely well.

I just really was taken back at the comments revolved around the use of add-ons and the subliminal down play of maximizing more challenging class mechanics & the Mythical raid tier. Those two are going to be hard to swallow for a bit.

[Typecast 16]

I'm actually upset about the news today that their won't be a 5.5 patch before the 5.9/6.0 event. Was hoping they would drop 5.5 bringing flex raid sizes to normal/heroic SoO so we can start the process of building our rosters for mythic. Also with no 5.5 and a possible expansion release coming around summer 2014, SoO is going to be a bore.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Typecast

[Lockybalboa 618]

SoO is going to be a bore.

 

 

I'm still not done with heroic progression and I've been bored for three weeks.

[Muoric 3]

Affdots is absolutely necessary to maximize damage.  The only way it's not necessary is if you are tracking it by some other means to time procs.  Removing snapshotting will make every single DoT class just keep DoTs up and do your spells.  It will bring back "rotations" which is awful.

 

I think the problem is more to the fact that trinket procs are so huge. I mean with good procs you can more than double the strength of your dots. Resulting in that if you don't keep track of it and fail to do it your dps is going to be awful compared to a person who does it.

 

Basically a big part of the problem could be solved by having trinket (and other) procs be worth less compared to your stats with no procs.

 

Too early to say yet, but if deciding when to use haunt is going to be the only decision I need to make affliction will be a bore.

[Errinkel 9]

LFR used to be Heroic raiders and players who didn't care enough. Now it's just players who don't care enough.

I think that is unfair. IME, it is a lot of players who want to see the end-game content but belong to very small guilds or do not have time for heroic progression. I know it's easy and fun to smack on LFR, but for some of us, it really is the only way to see the content and we ARE trying to be the best we can be. You do get problem groups in LFR, but you also get friendly cooperative groups that want to play and have fun and do the best they can. I see a lot more of the latter than the former.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Errinkel

[Lockybalboa 618]

but you also get friendly cooperative groups that want to play and have fun and do the best they can. I see a lot more of the latter than the former.

 

Wish I could get that LFR...ever. 

 

There *might* be some groups like this, but far more common is there is 2-3 people that are just trying to have fun and do their best, 19 people there because their copy of Hello Kitty Island Adventures is broken, 2-3 people that think they are God's gift to WoW and then die to fire...4 times in a row, and then 1-2 poor heroic bastards that are trying to carry the LFR group.

 

Those heroic bastards that carry are now 98% done with running LFR...ever again. The people that are trying to see some content and have fun and can carry their weight are 50-60% done with running LFR...ever again. Now it's mostly the mouth breathers that don't understand that fire is bad and the arrogant pricks that topped a chart that one time in that one pug in that one tier and now are convinced that they have a dick made of gold.

 

 

Imo, one of the best things I heard at Blizzcon was when GC (FUCK GC) said that they wanted to make LFR "a tourist attraction".

[Soulzar 42]

 

Imo, one of the best things I heard at Blizzcon was when GC (FUCK GC) said that they wanted to make LFR "a tourist attraction".

 

And folks if you would direct you attention to the left, we have a large Dino named Thok.  Thok is known for his AoE interrupt and eating the odd mouth breather.  Raiders who have purchased the Gold Membership will be able to browse through his loot upon completion of the tour.

[Lockybalboa 618]

And folks if you would direct you attention to the left, we have a large Dino named Thok.  Thok is known for his AoE interrupt and eating the odd mouth breather.  Raiders who have purchased the Gold Membership will be able to browse through his loot upon completion of the tour.

 

 

I laughed irl...hard

[dotscom 0]

Actually got some depressing class news. Warlocks being redesigned with snapshotting being removed. The reason was the skill cap was too high. In other words they feel its too difficult to be really good. So they're dumbing the game down. Good news for those who don't care to improve. Bad for those who enjoy a challenge. Well see as things develop.

So that'll basically break the Black Blood of Y'Shaarj for affliction.

[Muoric 3]

So that'll basically break the Black Blood of Y'Shaarj for affliction.

And here I thought affliction was dead allready?

[Omaric 246]

To anyone thinking that removing snapshotting is going to dumb down the class, they are making changes to warlocks for the expansion that will most likely give them the complexity we need to not fall asleep.  That applies mostly to Affliction, as I think Demonology/Destruction without snapshotting are in a good spot right now.  With a few more tweaks they could be very fun still.

[Calol 5]

To anyone thinking that removing snapshotting is going to dumb down the class, they are making changes to warlocks for the expansion that will most likely give them the complexity we need to not fall asleep.  That applies mostly to Affliction, as I think Demonology/Destruction without snapshotting are in a good spot right now.  With a few more tweaks they could be very fun still.

The WoW community almost as a whole has a "the sky is falling" mentality to any significant chamges.