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You said the challenge mode would scale–does it scale up as well as down?
"A little give and take, they may have monsters scale up."
Can we enter a random queue for Burning Crusade or WotLK raids?
"Currently no–worried about queue sizes, afraid people won't return so the queue will be way too long."
Dungeons used to be visible all over the world, such as Black Temple. So why did Cataclysm have that disappear? What is Pandaria doing?
"We don't always focus on that. The Brewery dungeon will be a quest hub on the inside, where you solo them and talk to them before the dungeon actually happens. It will be a huge scale."
Will we be able to quest in a raid group?
"Yeah, this might be happening."
You try to kick people and it doesn't always work in a 5-man. How does this work?
"Internal algorithm; it tracks how many times you kick people, how many times that person gets kicked, and so on. So that's why some people are unable to remove people for three hours."
Will there be more level 90 normals, or the same heroics you jump to and then run repeatedly (i.e. ZG/ZA)?
"We are not planning to have any level 90 normal mode dungeons, people will just go straight to heroics and challenge modes."
Hardmode toggling: Can we go back to Ulduar model? We liked Freya+3 or Mimiron's hardmode compared to just more health and damage hardmodes.
"It was very difficult to do that for EVERY boss. It worked well for Freya or the Iron Council, but it was harder to come up with modes such as Thorim or Hodir. We want to find consistency, make it more obvious, and no triggered hardmodes. It's much clearer to just submit it to heroic or normal to trigger a difficulty versus wait to a health percentage or another requirement."
Why can't you make a universal legendary chain versus class specific legendaries?
"We like our current system. The questline is all about rogues for this one, it's more fun, and rewarding to the community and players."
Can you join as a group in raid finder? 10 and 25-man sharing a lockout has made many players bored and their alt specs useless.
"You can only get loot once a week, but no lockout from the raid finder. We're trying to make it super fun regardless of the difficulty. 10 and 25 mans are discussed a lot, them sharing a lockout could change–it's not completely out of the picture."
There was no consistency from tier 11 to tier 12. How will you resolve that? (13 bosses vs. 7 bosses.)
"We want to make it less of a jump."
Why did you nerf Firelands? I didn't find Firelands epic, either. It seemed rushed.
"We did the hotfixes ASAP to make more people raid. We overtuned Firelands and that's our bad; it was not about trying to rush into 4.3."
Have you thought about dealing with the 10 and 25-man differences? What about server firsts for 10 and 25-man, they aren't tuned correctly?
We are looking into it, usually one or two end up vastly different, so we agree; it's not fair at the moment.
Challenge modes–will they have unlocks and more modes?
Gold medal might nerf your gear by 5%, then if you beat that, it could be by 10%–then 15%, etc. So that way it's not just Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
Have you considered maybe having a single raid where you progress through two sides that both reach the end boss so it can be split up?
"The way LFR looks you don't choose all 8 bosses, you instead choose 4 and 4. So this is happening with LFR to break up the content into smaller chunks."
What happened to Abyssal Maw?
"It was a raid we wanted to do. It was going to fit into Vash'jir. It ended up that it didn't fit; nothing was wrong, it just ended up not really fitting and getting replaced. All of it is gone–it was just concept art. We will probably not revisit it."
What are you doing about hit/expertise in challenge modes?
"We have top men working on this. We also worry about trinket procs and other scaling. So yeah, don't worry."
Mimiron's Head and Invincible were hardmode mounts; why did you make Firelands' Firehawk able to be on normal mode, rather than rewarding the hardcore players with an exclusive mount?
"You were rewarded more–they dropped 100% time. Anyway, this is why we're making LFR not drop rare mounts and prestige." (Kind of not answering the question here, sadly.)
2:15PM PDT The goal is to have everyone have different talents and character customization.
2:18PM PDT Abilities will be broken into two things: class and spec abilities. All warriors learn Heroic Strike, but only Arms warriors can learn Slam. There are also class talents where any spec can learn it, but they don't get it by default–it's a conscious choice.
2:20PM PDT The idea is to make players choose from three talents. For example, Throwdown would be a crowd control ability any spec warrior could get; however, it would have two other choices to get that also CC.
2:22PM PDT You will access stuff you never could before and create new combinations. It's a mix-and-match system at the crux of it.
2:23PM PDT There will be several new, overpowered talents–but they will be scaled, limited, and changed depending on your combinations.
There are a lot of new druid abilities and significant changes. Treants will be able to be used in every spec; incarnation is a talent that changes per spec; even bear themed talents are cool. For example, Ursol's Vortex will pull enemies into you with wind; can be used in any form.
Hunters will get new types of arrows–e.g. arcane or frost, depending on what they want. Enhanced spirit bond if you choose it or a different aspect. Pets will no longer be tied to types, rather, the hunter decides what he wants them to do (i.e. spiders for PvP will now be used in PvE).
Every talent is themed toward a spec of fire, arcane, or frost. Polymorph even has its own tier. For example, "Sickly Polymoph" will make their health not regen; "Heavy Polymorphed" stuns; "Double Polymorph" lets you have two sheep at once.
Paladins finally get a hamstring through SoC. Blessed Life became a talent that shares with Sacred Shield and Ardent Defender. Flash of Light is now the only paladin heal that's non-talented, so rets and prots will not have things like Divine Light.
Priests were changed the most drastically to make the two different healing specs unique. Power Infusion will be available to any spec. New healing spell that will swap your health with the target's called Void Shift, totally wild.
Rogues benefit a lot, as many of their cool spells were in the oft useless subtly tree. Huge changes to spells like Killing Spree, as you now manually teleport versus automatically.
Shaman get a lot more utility. They will be able to pull out a defensive totem then put it back and have it only eat into its uptime; for example, if they pulled out a totem and then a priest barriered, a good shaman could pull it back and save the CD.
Warlocks get new pets through the new talents, such as Grimoire of Service which lets you have two pets out at the same time or Grimoire of Supremacy which gives warlocks entirely new demons!
The Mists of Pandaria panel is about to go down, we'll be live blogging it as it unfolds.
Liveblog
12:30PM PDT They agree with Cataclysm criticisms. They want to create new things to do rather than rehash the old. They hope challenge modes will help.
12:32PM PDT "Let's get players back into the world." They're sick of Stormwind and Orgrimmar idling. Picture of outdoor raid mob as indication of things to come.
12:34PM PDT They want to make character progression more fun and balanced for all types of players–from the hardcore to the casual.
12:35PM PDT They want you to "geek out with more interesting character builds." They streamlined it too much in Cataclysm.
12:36PM PDT There will be five new zones (plus a new starting zone); it will be a single unified conttinent like TBC and WotLK. They felt like Cataclysm was too broken up.
12:37PM PDT No flying until max level.
12:40PM PDT Pandaria has been shrouded in a mist. The alliance and horde wash up on the shores of Pandaria during a naval battle. They immediately want it for their own for the war–so they are going to destroy the pandaren to get its resources!
12:42PM PDT The starting zone is a giant turtle. Literally.
12:43PM PDT You will choose your faction at level 10 as a pandaren. You cannot go back.
12:45PM PDT Jinyu are fish type creatures you kill in Pandaria.
12:45PM PDT Hozu are a monkey type of race that you also kill.
12:45PM PDT Verming are a new take on kobolds and you will face them throughout. Instead of candles, they're after vegetables.
12:47PM PDT Mantids will be an insect race that will be featured in dungeons & raids. They are not like the Silithid, they are intelligent and use weapons.
12:48PM PDT The Mogu were the original race twelve thousand years ago and they want the island back from the pandaren.
12:49PM PDT The Sha will be negative energy and it will be a shadow form that players fight; the alliance & horde will actually increase this.
12:49PM PDT Moving onto zones. First zone is Jade Forest.
Lush rainforests and stone spires.
Temple of the Jade Serpent will be the first dungeon (85-86).
12:52PM PDT Valley of the Four Winds is the second zone. It is split in two, you choose what side to take (you can come back later).
The Brewery will be the second dungeon.
12:56PM PDT Greg Street took the stage and we're switching to pandaren.
12:59PM PDT He's just going over what we've talked about below (the racials we broke).
1:00PM PDT Three specs for monks! They can be healers!
Brewmaster – Tank
Mistweaver – Healer. It should be like an intense Disc priest, they want it to damage AND heal.
Windwalker – Melee DPS.
1:02PM PDT Monks are not a hero class, they start at base level. All races except goblin and worgen can do it. They will use staves and fist weapons plus one-handed axes, maces, and swords. No shields for healers. They wear leather.
1:04PM PDT Chi (energy) for Jab and Roll. Jab generates Light and Dark force, which is used for everything else.
1:05PM PDT Monks have no Auto Attack!
1:05PM PDT Now he's breaking down Cataclysm's failures and the new talent tree.
1:07PM PDT Talent trees should let you be different, no more cookie-cutter builds. No hybridization is in-game, either, and they're sorry for that. Everyone is the same currently–they want to fix that!
1:09PM PDT They're making spells spec specific, for example, immolation will now be destruction only.
1:11PM PDT Only one talent tree per class now. You earn a talent every 15 levels. Every talent you choose one of three, you cannot go back (so each level is important).
1:12PM PDT They are letting you change talents as easily as glyphs. FINALLY. Here's an example of the UI:
1:15PM PDT PvE scenarios. They are glorified group quests only cooler–more elegant to group up and explore the world.
Example scenario: You and some friends must kill kobolds, then you must find children they stole, then kill the boss responsible for it all. In an essence, they're more epic quests that give VP/JP.
1:21PM PDT Challenge modes will be like the old Baron run. You will earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals. Gear levels are normalized, i.e. your high level gear becomes entry level gear. You get gear without stats (brand new tiers with a unique look) just for doing challenge modes to show off!
1:24PM PDT Pokémon for World of Warcraft. OK, OK, they didn't say that–but pet battles will be your vanity pets fighting!
Works with most existing pets.
Wild pets will be a new type to collect–they may only spawn with raining or during the Spring or in a certain location. Like maybe one pet will only spawn in Orgrimmar at night on Friday's.
You will have builds and items they can hold, too.
The Pet Journal will let you manage your pets.
1:35PM PDT There will be 9 new dungeons, 6 specific to Pandaria. Redone ones from classic will be turned into heroics: Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery (wings 1 & 2).
1:37PM PDT There will be 3 raids at launch, featuring Mogu and Mantid. They will have Raid Finer, Normal & Heroic difficulties. World raid bosses will be brought back, too!!!
1:41PM PDT They are adding new battlegrounds and coming up with new ideas. They are talking about ones they have in inception stage, such as Stranglethorn DIamond Mines (payload); Valley of Power (Murderball); and Azshara Crater (DoTA).
1:42PM PDT STV Diamond would be a mine with multiple tracks; the first team to get the cart to the end would win. Players would have to move carts, split the tracks, and escort the carts.
1:44PM PDT Valley of Power would be located in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Murderball where you hold the object for as long as possible, taking more damage the longer you hold it.
1:45PM PDT Tol'vir Arena would be like Nagrand, only sandy.
1:46PM PDT Back to Greg. He's now talking about achievements. ACCOUNT LEVEL ACHIEVEMENTS. ALLOW ACHIEVEMENTS WILL BE SHARED ACROSS ACOUNTS. This will let them introduce new achievements.
1:47PM PDT Major class changes.
Resilience. It will be a base stat, so as you level you get some. PvE gear will not be the best, but you will be able to use it for entry-level PvP.
Ranged Weapons. Hunter minimum range is gone. Hunter melee weapon is gone. Ranged slot for all classes gone. Relics are gone. Wands will become actual weapons, like mainhands.
Warlocks will now have a unique resource for each spec. Affliction – Soul Shards. Demonology – Demonic Fury. Destruction – Infernal Embers.
Shaman will no longer have buff totems. All totems will be redone. Earthgrab totem – roots> Repulsion totem – repels. Bulwark totem – absorbs.
Druids now have four specs. feral – cat DPS. Guardian – bear tank.
Spell books for all classes are changed; rotations improved; and more.
Join Space Marine Community Manager THQSledgehammer as he gives you the first look at many aspects of our Free Co-op DLC Exterminatus. Get a sneak peak at the online settings within the game mode along with a snap shot of the Missions & Arenas. As always let us know what you think of the video by leaving a comment below.
