Onyxia Revamped in 3.2.2, Arena Changes and more – World of Warcraft

For the 5th year anniversary, the brood mother Onyxia is having a comeback and return back in the forefront of Azeroth as part of the upcoming 3.2.2 patch!

This will convert the Onyxia’s Lair into a 10 and 25-player dungeon. New items will be added, mainly looking like good ol’ Tier 2 Set items (Helms). Additional to the new loot, she will also be dropping a 310% flying mount, which looks like Onyxia herself and called “Onyxia Broodling”. The Encounter mechanic will also be updated to be more on level of modern Wrath of the Lich King raiding (I’m just unsure if this is such an good idea :P). But Blizzard said, that deep breath will still remain. So have fun with raiding her with casuals to stupid to run away and die in the breath.

Arena Rating Cap

3k Arena Rating will be removed, so the rating cap won’t be an issue for the end of this season.

Arena Matchmaking System 3.2

The 5 time additional queue was hotfixed today and lowered to 2 minutes. It was the time which was added to your normal queue to play against a team you just played against (It’s made to prevent people form having to fight each other several times in a row, especially in nightly matches, where most people where sleeping and block down cheating the rankings).

Battleground Experience Gain

This is something we’re watching very closely and right now we’d be inclined to agree that there are some battlegrounds where we may need to boost the amount of experience awarded. However, that isn’t to say that all battlegrounds are less than they should be. Still, we are looking at adjusting the experience sometime in the near future. (Source)

Crusader title

Nothing like this was removed in patch 3.2, everything is still obtainable. Yes, something like the Crusader title still takes a lot of time and a lot of daily quests to get through, but it’s still sitting there and waiting for you. (Source)

Balancing Arena Brackets

It’s not, in our mind, an issue on which bracket is the most balanced. It comes down to which bracket is the most balance-able.

The 2s bracket has two flaws built into its design. One is that it tends to select for those classes who have a lot of different options and utility built into one class. Since your team is just one other guy, and he or she is often going to be focused or CC’d, you can’t rely so much on your teammate’s abilities. You have to rely on your own abilities. What players kept asking for, and the direction we realized we were taking, was just to give more and more abilities to more and more classes so that everyone had everything. We don’t think that’s good for class design long term. Arena is intended to be about teamwork not self-sufficiency.

The second problem is the relative balance of power of healing. If a healer can keep themselves and one other person alive in 2s, then they probably can’t keep three people alive in 3s. That tends to squeeze healers out of 3s. On the other hand, if a healer can keep a three-player team alive, then they can probably keep a two-player team alive trivially.

We didn’t remove the 2s bracket from the game. If you like it, it’s still there for you. But we wanted to be able to focus more of our balance effort on the 3s bracket and wanted more of the high-end potential gladiators to focus their balance feedback and effort on that bracket as well.

…Think about it this way. We offer 10 and 25-player raids in the hopes that players who like smaller groups or larger groups can both find something that suits them. We could take that to extremes and also offer a 15-player raid or still offer 40-player raids too. But the more of these options we add, the more effort it takes to balance them all and the bigger chance that something will break at one of the extremes.

We think 3s and 5s will ultimately offer a better play experience. But we have supported 2s for a few years now and some players have grown to enjoy them, so we thought it was overly harsh to just cut them from the game. (Source)

[Mage]Ghostcrawler on buffing Arcane

I said we wanted to buff Arcane but wanted to do so without adding back some of the fast burst damage that we have worked hard to reduce in PvP. We agree that it’s worth changing things that can be really frustrating to play against even if it doesn’t reward the other guy with high representation or ratings. (Source)

[Priest]Glyph of Mind Flay

I’m almost positive that the way it works is the glyph leaves a 10% snare on Mind Flay today on live (the glyph didn’t change in 3.2). The reason is because we thought it might cause a lot of bugs related to whether a target was officially snared or not. A 10% snare isn’t particularly useful but it is noticeable.

What we’re talking about is changing the glyph to not affect the default snare at all. The glyph would just boost range. (Source)

[Warlock]Ghostcrawler on buffing Demonology

The context was how do you find 3 distinct niches for a dps class such that each of the trees has its moment to feel special and shine yet over the course of a raid tier, all 3 feel like they do about the same dps. That’s a really challenging goal.

It wasn’t a “buff Demo” discussion as much as what the roles should be for pure dps talent trees, unless you fall back on the classic “PvP, PvE and the spec nobody takes.”

If we buffed Demonology, and we buffed it too much (even if it was only on some fights) then what you’d probably see is most raiding warlocks shift to Demo. This is exactly what happened when we made Survival better than Beastmaster. What does that really accomplish other than giving players whiplash and perhaps giving those players who really just love a certain spec a little bit of time in the sun? (Source)

World of Warcraft 4.0 Preview: Cataclysm

It’s out. The new World of Warcraft Expansion would be named Cataclysm.

There will be some big changes as well as new races. The Goblins will join Horde forces, Worgen to the Alliance. Some of the class limitations will be lifted too, so we’d may see some human druids or human hunters, Dwarf mages etc.

Level Cap will only be raised to Level 85 this time, to keep enough space for the future and not get to level 100 so fast.

As for the continent, there won’t be any new continent with the Cataclysm Expansion. Instead, old Azeroth will be revamped by using the Phasing Engine (like it was introduced with the Wrath of the Lich King. We remember, where the zone changes over time, like the Death Knight start area). Flying will also be possible in Azeroth as well as some of the old zones and dungeons to be revamped.

Characters

Deathwing/Neltharion

Deathwing will reappear again in Cataclysm and play a major role in the story. He succeeded in creating a new generation of supreme Dragonflights and going to unleash them upon the World of Warcraft.

Azshara

For the first time Azshara herself will appear in this Expansion and playing another major role in the story on the side of Deathwing. The long missed Queen, even forgotten and thought dead by her own kin, will rise from the depths of the Maelstorm and threatening the live on the Planet Azeroth.

Cataclysm

After all it’s still unknown who may be the true end boss of this expansion. But speculations are that it may be one of the remaining Old Gods (after C’Thun and Yogg-Saron, only 3 are left).

Malfurion/Thrall

Malfurion will return back to Azeroth and Thrall becoming the new Guardian of the Tirisfal, giving up his position as the Leader of the Horde. Garrosh Hellscream will take his place as the new Leader of the Horde.

Darkfall Online: IRC Interview with Brannoc

A few days ago there was an IRC interview with the Aventurine Community Manager Brannoc during one of the shutdowns where a patch was applied.

Many concerns are address/answered here, such as the why the forums where take down while the patch was applied, macroing, payment and preorder questions. Not all of the Questions/Answers are really “serious”, but still some give interesting information.

<Keta>I left my luggage in the forums. And now I have nothing to wear.

<@Brannoc> I shut the forums down because all they were doing was crashing and preventing us from getting information out
<@Brannoc> so...there's the love!

<Junkoe> hey brannoc am I alone in that my account is not inactive but I was playing before servers went down?

<@Brannoc> no Junkoe
<@Brannoc> if this were all a big scam I'd be saying "haha suckers" and drinking

<nox_> are you drinking at a bar?

<@Brannoc> I should be

<Sceleris> can you understand alot of the frustration?

<@Brannoc> of course I can Sceleris, I wanted to be playing by now too
<@Brannoc> no one is more disappointed than we are
<@Brannoc> playing would be a LOT more fun than keeping the forums and irc channel shutdown to keep you guys from crashing them
<@Brannoc> we Must have a way to communicate with people, we couldn't keep the forums online, so, I took the forums down

<RixuS> Brannoc, did they ever diagnose the issue of accounts that *were* active, but suddenly *stopped*?

<@Brannoc> that's on the list, RixuS

<Etherwar> maybe put up the forums but disable new posts?

<@Brannoc> still uses a lot of resources, Etherwar
<@Brannoc> far more than this method

<[AOD]glockjs> Any news on the Credit Card issue?

<@Brannoc> which one, Glockjs?
<@Brannoc> there' at least 3

<Ssly|-W-> brannoc, know anything about the progress of creating more servers to handle the demand?

<@Brannoc> I don't, Ssly|-W-

<ShockWave> Brannoc i repeat do you know when the remaining ppl who preordered are getting in?

<@Brannoc> there is no ETA at this time
<@Brannoc> no ETA for new orders either, but that will come after the patch and after the pre-orders are all fixed

<bunghole> Brannoc,it's not really fair that I can't play and I paid... and others are playing

<@Brannoc> I agree it's not fair at all, bunghole
<@Brannoc> but we didn't do it on purpose

<Squatch> Brannoc are you getting a promotion after all this work?

<@Brannoc> what do you think Squatch

<ShockWave> atleast good you finaly take the time to talk to us Brannoc

<@Brannoc> I've been trying to do that all day, ShockWave

<[Yew]Greg> do your fucking job

<@Brannoc> I don't think you can be anymore informed than you are greg, I'd say your statement is mostly loaded with fail

<[AOD]glockjs> Brannoc, Is there a prob with debit cards with a CC logo that is known?

<@Brannoc> not that I've heard, glockjs

<wired> what is the time estimate for the servers coming back up?

<@Brannoc> I've heard a vague ETA, but if we release an ETA and miss it THEN how pissed will you be?

<wired> more vague than "servers will be up in the evening" like release day?

<@Brannoc> approx eta? 1-4 hours +/- 3

<[WSX]Chrismon> Brannoc are you aware of all the clans that got their citys via exploits?

<@Brannoc> I don't think ALL the clans got their cities by exploits, Chrismon, but we'll review that, last I saw not a single one had exploited
<@Brannoc> I really am highly doubtful of any major exploits taking place, maybe some pathing issues or guard tower issues
<@Brannoc> but I was playing earlier and didn't see any guilds with big cities fucking with bugs

<[WSX]Stig_Arius> Hey Brannoc - are they considering a wipe/reset - anything like that? Can you say whether it has even been brought up as an idea?

<@Brannoc> I don't know, Stig

<[Yew]Greg> Well here’s a little helpful piece of advise if you ladies plan on keeping any sort of player base. Even in the shittiest circumstances, at least tell us to just "fuck off we're working on it". That's all most of us want to know.

<@Brannoc> I'd be happy to tell you to go fuck yourselves! But a lot of people say that's bad PR
<@Brannoc> so...I'm trying not to

<Smoopidhead> how about you guys let people play until you get everything worked out(How ever long it takes), wipe the server. and allow for 30 days play from that date?

<@Brannoc> that'd be a shitty use of resources, Smoopidhead

<Deharakk> Brannoc: I suppose the devs never considered a system of ordering that just queued us to receive orders upon release?

<@Brannoc> I don't know, Deharakk

<Tenzy> Brannoc, do you have a preferred Darkfall race?

<@Brannoc> ork.

<[Lash]> yo b - are u gonna put ur update macro back on for #darkfall

<@Brannoc> nah, leaving the macro off while I'm awake and at the PC, Lash

<Kompressor> Is macroing a bannable offence?

<@Brannoc> not my place to state the official stance on macro'ing
<@Brannoc> but that's common sense, not an official stance
<@Brannoc> I'd say a common sense answer would be that...if you're not macro'ing to exploit the system or for commercial gain...you'll be left alone

<Xace> Brannoc, will we get a list of the fixes in the patch

<@Brannoc> should, Xace

<Keta> Bottom line is what can they do about macroing? Or how can they prove it?

<@Brannoc> exactly, Keta
<@Brannoc> macro'ing skill gain isn't very effective generally

<Keta> Bots are another story.

<@Brannoc> bots wouldn't be that hard to make
<@Brannoc> but they would be hard to keep alive and effective

<Dragon456> Brannoc, is 4-legged running still coming?

<@Brannoc> I don't know Dragon456

<[MC]Butch_T> What about non charged people

<@Brannoc> non-charged people are still on the to do list

<Zaffa> @Brannoc Do you know if prepaid credit cards are accepted for orders?

<@Brannoc> I honestly don't know, zaffa

<[100]Julius> Brannoc any news on the dead zones? This has caused many people to lose their characters permanently meaning they had to create a new character. I have guildies that have had to remake characters over 3 times!

<@Brannoc> should be fixed by the patch, Julius...I think

<Keta> Brannoc: Give people instructions on how to use REST.

<@Brannoc> what's hard about rest, Keta?
<@Brannoc> put it on your bar, use it

<nikki|-W> Brannoc, using ping plotter I consistently ping the DF server around 180ish. While I'm in game my ping ranges from 240-300.. and sometimes spikes. my fps is consistently above 100. What's up with that?

<@Brannoc> your megahurtz must be haxed, nikki!

<Ssly|-W-> brannoc, do you know if the over-filled chaos stone bug is also being worked on in the current patch?

<@Brannoc> I don' know ssly

<Ket> Problem is Brannoc, we are paying customers now, your companies failure to keep the server going is a poor mark on you part

<@Brannoc> I never said it wasn't ket
<@Brannoc> but I have said we're doing the absolute best we can with all the resources we have

<[MC]Butch_T> What is the dev sleep schedule like, brannoc

<@Brannoc> Tasos sleeps 1-3 hours every 16 hours
<@Brannoc> Ricki is about the same
<@Brannoc> so like I said, the team is working as hard as they possibly can to make this work

<T> Brannoc: how much do YOU sleep?

<@Brannoc> about 3 hours a night T

<Vlash> sucks to have paid for the game and not being able to play it

<@Brannoc> I agree vlash
<@Brannoc> Darkfall has been a bigger dream for the developers than for the fans
<@Brannoc> they're giving everything they can because it's their dream, not because they want to "omgmakemoney!" off it...making money is just a nice side effect

<Ket> Yes, thing is, now you all need to take care of the customers if you wish to keep your dream alive

<@Brannoc> we're doing the best we can Ket
<@Brannoc> no patch that has to be done on release day is "easy"

<wired> technically release day was yesterday.

<Mudkipslolwu> Brannoc can i get you to comment on the nude photos that have recently surfaced including both you and tasos?

<@Brannoc> my p*nis is bigger, Mudkipslolwu

Darkfall Online: Answers to most asked Darkfall questions

Sovlenski compiled a FAQ according to the current Darkfall Online Closed Beta answering some of the most asked questions there.

Read up and enojy

World

Are there any working doors?

No, they are pre-set on/off

Can guilds name their cities when they claim a stone, or do all the spots have a pre-set names?

Preset names.

By what metric is that black dot bigger than Kalimdor? Travel time? In-game size measurements?

Both travel time and size. Movement speed is a lot faster in WoW, the world in DF is more dynamic as the mountain you can actually travel up.

Clan/Cities

Regarding hamlets... can you build guard towers and farms there?

Yup.

What features does a clan offer the player?

A clan offers a contract of safe people to role with, a way to gank people with no penalty except risk by going to war and probably a city to chill at.

Can ranks/titles be given? (military ranks?), and what practical functionality do they offer?

Yes, but the ranks are generic. Ranks offer what access you have in the bank as well as a bureaucratic structure.

How is clan property dealt with? for example, the ownership and/or control of a city, a farm / bank or a certain piece of land (if that's possible)
Who keeps control over buildings like clan houses and banks?
How is a clan bank taken care of, who gets access to items and gold?

The owner ship of the clan city is whoever claim that city with a clan shard. Who ever is the major of the city is the boss. Clan bank is manipulated by the clan leader, (ranks).

I assume 'kingdoms' can be formed, what does a clan need to do to receive the status of 'Kingdom'?
How does a clan/kingdom claim control/ownership over land?
How does a clan/kingdom conquer land from other clans/kingdoms?

Kingdom is merely owning land. On the political map the area your clan controls is indicated with a green box. A clan claims a city/hamlet with a clan shard. A clan starts a siege by using a clanshard inside the enemies territory and 2 hours later their city becomes vulnerable.

Character

Has anyone had the chance to operate a ship? And if so how was it?

So very expensive to get to this stage, but yes and it was just faster travel on the water. Lol it was a raft...

Can the elf and dark elf see better at night?

No.

Combat

How much does your skill level affect your damage output?

Minorly, but it adds up and can give a major advantage.

Are spells influenced by the kind of staff you're using? Or are spells always the same as long as you are holding any staff (even the noob staff)?

Staves affect speed of casting and damage. Read the description of the staff.

Can you enlighten us with descriptions or general information about what each of the stats in game actually DO for you? What effect does each of the stats have on gameplay?

• Strength: Increase damage dealt with melee weapons, and moderately affects maximum health
• Vitality: Grants a considerable bonus to maximum Health and a moderate bonus to stamina. A high Vitality may also slightly reduce to effects of poison and bleeding
• Dexterity: Increase archery damage, and may reduce damage taken from area effects
• Quickness: Slightly increases melee and archery speed, and may reduce damage taken from such attacks. Grants a moderate bonus to maximum Stamina
• Intelligence: Increase the power of spells, and greatly affects maximum Mana. Improves resistance against mental attacks
• Wisdom: Grants a bonus to all crafting and harvesting skills. Also, it moderately affects maximum Mana, and grants a slight resistance bonus to curses

Magic takes time to reach it's target as it's flying.The question is if it differs per magic type; for example a "Ball Lightning"(Since it's cheapest.) versus a Corrosive Blast.

Yup.

Is there a poison skill in the game? How do poisons work? Is there only one kind of poison? How much damage does any known poisons do? Can you make poisons?

Magical dots are the closest thing to poisons. You cannot coat your weapon in dragons blood, sorry.

If you are grouped and on a kill quest do you get credit if a group member kills a mob you are after?

Last hit

When/if you get a chance, I wouldn't mind hearing about mounts and/or mounted combat. Is it fun? Is it even in? Can you fight with any weapon mounted. (I'm pretty sure not a bow however.) Is it like regular combat?

I will verify then answer this in 20 minutes

When someones on the ground and you go to gank them what if you dont use any kind of weapons besides a wand. do you just smack them in the head with the wand? or does your hand burst into flames and you shove it in their chest or something?

You have to have a melee weapon out.

I have heard of many in game using 2 handers, but little mention of knives/daggers. I understand knives are faster, do less dmg with less range, and appear dual wielding, but are they not a viable weapon class?

Verifying check in 10-20 minutes

Will I be at a major disadvantage for not eating in the game?

Yes, stats go up very slowly stacking food 3 times makes everything go faster as well as never ending sprint

Crafting/Trade

How do crafted gear compare to gear dropped from mobs across the board (i.e. low level crafted vs low level dropped, mid level vs mid level, high vs high)?

Crafted gear is better than mob drops and merchant bought items

Just wonder if there's any way to make a fire or something out in the field so you can cook and not have to run back to a town all the time

Nope, you have to be at an oven in any of the cities. But you can send up a magical smoke column.

Darkfall Online: MMORPG Interview

We haven't heard anything new from the developers since the Jan 22nd news item announcing the first round of invites. Can you tell us why we haven't heard any further updates?

That’s not entirely correct because we’ve had a substantial update on January 25th and a few interviews since then but basically we’ve been doing what we said on the 22nd. Our first priority is getting the game ready for release. There are also thousands of testers to support and all this has been keeping us very busy. We have announcements coming soon with all the info the public needs in order to play Darkfall.

We keep hearing that the developers have responded to quite a bit of user input since the 22nd. Can you give us an idea of some of the changes that have come about as a result of player feedback?

We have been getting a lot of valuable user feedback and responding to it as we have done throughout the development cycle. Most of the feedback confirms our original intentions meaning that often players ask for changes or fixes that are already planned or in production.

We have benefited from the feedback in several areas where we needed testing input and we’ve had a lot of great feedback related to balancing, and on tweaking the gameplay experience. A lot of the user feedback has led to more testing of features. We’ve also been doing our best to respond immediately to any bugs reported by the testers and so far our track record has been very good at fixing them immediately. By looking at the player logs, we’ve corrected many areas that the players didn’t need to report.

It’s our commitment to continuously and proactively support this game throughout its lifecycle, on a daily basis, and to listen closely to what the players have to say so that the game can evolve and grow. We won’t simply assign a ‘live team’ to support the game while the rest of us move on to something else. The testers working with us already know this.

There had been some speculation that there are plans to push the launch date further back than the originally announced 25th date. Can you tell us if there is any truth to this?

Consistent with the usual speculation sources, there’s no truth to this.

Can you give us any more details on pre-order plans?

We will have a pre-order so that we can service Darkfall’s customer’s better pending release. The pre-order customers will be able to download the game prior to the 25th and to enter the game on the launch date. We considered offering early access to the pre-orders, but decided against this due to the competitive nature of the game. Our pre-order consists of a minimal charge to activate the process which will be concluded on the launch date. You’re not pre-buying the game; you’re simply reserving your copy for the launch date. Our billing partner is Globalcollect, a leading and trusted global payment service.

There will be a limited number of pre-order copies of Darkfall offered, and a limited number of copies available at launch. We won’t try to support more users than we can guarantee a good gameplay experience for, and if demand is higher than supply, then we will move to a structured release. It’s also not a matter of simply throwing up a few more servers to meet increased demand. Darkfall being a sandbox, real-time, seamless world able to support over 10 thousand concurrent users requires considerably more infrastructure and support in place than your average MMOG. We will do what is necessary to support the demand, but it’s not going to be instantaneous.
The overwhelming majority of the people who have played the game have expressed their interest in pre-ordering, but it’s not our intention to urge anyone to pre-order, rather to inform that this is an available option.

As of now, are there any systems or features that players have expected to see in the game that will not be ready for launch?

The only feature we haven’t had time to implement is the Mahirim 4 legged run. Mahirim characters can of course use mounts until this is implemented.

We have consolidated several skills and spells and taken out redundant ones but we’ll continue to continuously add more throughout the lifecycle of the game. Running guards have been replaced by guard towers because they are more effective and also because more NPCs in the world just take up player spots. Repair works on ships, cannons, warhulks, structures, but not on player items and this was done to better facilitate the game economy and the appropriate adjustments were made to balance this out.

Then there are the old features we’ve announced changes on already through various updates, like individual player housing consolidated for now under clan housing, ritual magic being left out, prestige classes left out, and ARAC guilds being possible for practical reasons with only the penalty of incompatibility.

I’m sure I’m not addressing a few smaller features since I’m answering this question off the top of my head, but any changes we’ve made are mainly because either the feature was impractical in the Darkfall environment, it wasn’t fun, it was redundant, tedious, didn’t add to the gameplay experience, or because we are rethinking it.

Of course, we’ve also added hundreds of extras to the game that the players are not expecting and will continue to do so throughout the lifecycle of the game.

Can you give us an idea of when you plan to lift the game's NDA

We will lift it in time for people to get enough feedback to make an informed decision. We would rather not say when that is exactly.

Has any progress been made in moving toward a North American launch date after the European date of the 25th?

We’ve been looking at this, but we don’t have anything to announce yet. As I mentioned above, this is a serious commitment in resources and infrastructure, and we need the time to do as good a job as possible. For the time being, the European servers have been handling N. American players very well, and no problems have been reported due to player location. We will of course facilitate the migration of N. American players if they choose to join the N. American servers when these become available. There will be more information on this shortly.