As expected, Blizzcon will be at the Anaheim Convention Center again this year. There will be news, announcements, hands-on with the latest Blizzard games, and we’re sure there will be the staple of the show – the costume contest and closing ceremonies with a surprise event. As always, we’ll do our best to cover the [...]
News:
Blizzcon tickets went on sale
Oondasta loot roll changes from other realms
85-90 XP changes
Bad Robot – only for Engineers????
Live WoW Dev Q&A tonight at 5:30 PT (8:30 ET)
We talk about PvP, and compare what Alliance vs Horde PvP is like, some aspects about crowd control, and whether mages are really overpowered or if that’s a myth carried over from previous expansions.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Message from Zarhym:
Good people of Azeroth, lend me your eyes!
We’ll be hosting a live World of Warcraft developer Q&A open to the community on Thursday, April 25 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. PDT. Designers Dave Kosak, Ion Hazzikostas, Brian Holinka, Cory Stockton, and Greg Street will be available to field your questions about Mists of Pandaria gameplay and design, patch 5.2 and beyond. This will be a moderated chat on the Cover it Live platform hosted on the front page of our official site. Community managers Bashiok, Crithto, Daxxarri, Rygarius, and I will be there to filter your submissions for the developers.
We receive thousands of questions each time we host these events, so please be patient with us and bear in mind that we won’t get to every question. You can help by keeping your inquiries concise and focused on one topic per entry. Submissions that are well over 200 characters, or contain multiple questions on an array of topics, are much less likely to receive responses. We want to cover as much ground as possible and appreciate your assistance in helping us to achieve that.
We look forward to chatting with you on Thursday!
About the Panelists
Dave Kosak, Lead Quest Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment’s lead quest designer for World of Warcraft, Dave Kosak oversees the development of all quest content for the game and its expansions, as well as contributing to the overall fiction of the game world.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment, Kosak was a co-founder and original creative director of GameSpy.
Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Encounter Designer
As lead encounter designer on the World of Warcraft® team, Ion Hazzikostas’s primary responsibility is overseeing the creation of the game’s dungeon and raid content. Hazzikostas joined Blizzard Entertainment in the summer of 2008 as a game designer, and his responsibilities have included raid boss design and implementation, class design and balancing, and maintaining the World of Warcraft achievement system. Prior to arriving at Blizzard, he worked as an attorney at a law firm in Washington, DC.
In his spare time, Hazzikostas enjoys exploring Southern California in search of craft beer. Having grown up in New York City, he is a lifelong Yankees fan.
Brian Holinka, Senior PvP Game Designer
As a senior game designer on Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft® team, Brian Holinka focuses exclusively on continuing to make the World of Warcraft PvP experience enjoyable for all of its players. Holinka works with the systems and content teams to create a balanced competitive environment with exciting rewards and diverse content.
Prior to joining Blizzard Entertainment in 2012, Holinka worked on the multiplayer components of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Homefront, and Frontlines: Fuel of War. Holinka got his start in the game industry moonlighting on the “Desert Combat” mod for Battlefield 1942 while serving as a Captain in the United States Air Force.
Cory Stockton, Lead Content Designer
As Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.’s lead content designer for World of Warcraft®, Cory Stockton is responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of all exterior zones, dungeons, Battlegrounds, Arenas, and cities. He is also involved with many other aspects of the game, such as dungeon scripting and the Pet Battle System.
Stockton started at Blizzard Entertainment in June 2005 as lead dungeon designer before transitioning to his current role. Prior to his arrival, he was a lead designer on the Ratchet & Clank series and also contributed extensively to the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver series.
In his spare time, Stockton plays games extensively, and enjoys collecting classic consoles and games. He holds an associate’s degree in computer animation from the Art Institute of Phoenix.
Greg Street, Lead Systems Designer
As the lead systems designer for World of Warcraft®, Greg Street is one of the two lead designers on the team that reports to the Game Director. He leads a team that is in charge of World of Warcraft class, item and tradeskill design. He and his team also design the user interface for the game and handle all of the various combat calculations and number tuning.
/cast Hearthstone
News:
PTR
- No gated rep!
- Battlefield: Barrens
- Get xmog gear
- What’s going on in Valley of Eternal Blossoms?
- New Battlefield: Deepwind Gorge
Calendar spam
Why tailoring?
Mike:
Gearing up the monk
Getting another mage to 90
14k in a week selling xmog gear
Eric:
Switching realms- considerations
Solid Week full 90 on monk
Back to the PTR 5.3
Discovery Armor XMOG for my rogue
Nalak & Oon
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
5.3 Patch news:
Wow to get a limited in-game browser.
We’ll be able to xmog using items in the bank.
New Brawler’s Guild 5.3 features.
You can pick LFR loot for a different spec.
Hearthstone tied to new mounts?
Why you shouldn’t wait until late in the week to do LFR.
Tips on raising tailoring and enchanting.
How skinning and Tillers dailies are awesome together.
No-kill servers and guilds.
Your emails.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
(Yeah, I screwed up and said ep. 128)
5.3 Notes
WHO CALLED IT? Third spec in the 5.3 PTR
65% base resilience for PvP
All gear will be scaled to 496
Resilience removed from most PvP gear
Can still use gems/enchants
Heroic scenarios
5.3 will NOT be a new PvP season
WHO CALLED IT? Blizzard announces a new online TCG game “Hearthstone”
Mike:
Monk to 88
Tried LUI. Bleh.
Trying to get a good UI going.
Battlegrounds.
New LFR
Oondasta
Eric:
Monk 85
Moar nubschool
Auction House Bid or Buy
Is WoW doing a good job of teaching new players how to play the game and their class?
Tips on leatherworking.
For the bored – things to do when you’re out of things to do.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our weekly look at the news of WoW and what we did this week:
Eric:
Wanderer’s Festival Achieve
Galleon for the first time + amazing loot
Monk @ 80
AH woes
Mike:
Monk to 81. Decided to slow down.
Did LFR ToT last night.
Will start PvP again tonight.
Lack of motivation for dailies.
Just like Firelands, it feels forced and I don’t like not flying.
News and views:
Should you be able to start at 55 if you already have a 90 of the same race?
If you could align yourself with one non-main faction, what would it be?
Oondasta – the grave maker
- Will be spawning more often
Automatic flight point discovery was not intended in 5.1
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
News:
PvP Season 13 started
There will be no more 5-man dungeons in Mists.
Players visiting a different realm no longer eligible to receive loot from Oondasta or Nalak.
Thunderforged dropping in LFR.
Massive monk DPS bug.
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm released
Blizzard debuting something new at PAX East.
Mike:
Leveled a monk. Started as a test, now 54+
Still having problems with rotation.
A bit of fun in the old world.
Love the fast-paced play. Better thann DK/Pally
Was healer, decided on tank after Dire Maul incident
Enchants make a huge difference (no duh)
Eric
Darkmoon Faire ended (hidden cave, weird stuff, check blue histories, ghosts http://miasazeroth.blogspot.com/2011/11/ghosts-of-darmoon-island.html sea ponies, also, seahorse mount )
Treasure of the Thunder King solo scenario loot run
Cross Realm IN SW/ORG now? (eldrethas)
Valor of the Ancients
Golden Lotus (mount!)
tanking
amani dragon hawk
A look at leveling after not leveling for a while
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Special guest: SoCalWowGal @socalwowgal / socalwowgal.com)
We talk about our impressions of 5.2 so far, and have an in-depth discussion with SoCalWowGal about her blog which tackles being a WoW Life Coach.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
News:
Blizzard confirms no cross platform play for Diablo 3 on PS4
Thunder King trailer
Heart of the Storm trailer
Who’s going to Nerdtacular?
This Week:
Mike:
Formal Dangui dropped.
Lots of PvP. Capped out everything I wanted to do with PvE except Operation faction.
Will still do PvE, but waiting for 5.2
Trying to get as much Conquest Points before 5.2
Got full set of blue PvP gear, first epic PvP piece.
Eric
DK Leveling (at 89, return to the main!, former PVP main)
aside: I can riff on PVP, so don’t have much to add here
Changes to Mages/DK/Monk in 5.2
How to succeed in battlegrounds without really trying.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Blizzard has just released their trailer for Patch 5.2, “The Thunder King”. This patch will have the new Throne of Thunder raid, and the new Island of the Thunder King area. We can’t wait to play this new content!
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