Warlords of Draenor - General Discussion

We’ve recently taken another look at the rate of Honor gains in various Battlegrounds, and have concluded that current Honor gains in several Battlegrounds are currently too low. To that end, we’ll be making several changes to the way that Honor bonuses are rewarded in those battlegrounds, as follows:

In Arathi Basin, Battle for Gilneas, and Eye of the Storm, we’ll be increasing the frequency at which you’ll be rewarded bonus Honor based on the points your team has earned. Currently, you earn bonus Honor every 260 points (or 200 if that battleground is the current Call to Arms) in these battlegrounds. As a part of this adjustment, we’re going to lower the number to 130 (or 100 during Call to Arms).

We’re also making a similar change to Silvershard Mines. Currently bonus Honor is earned for every 265 points (or every 160 if Silvershard is the current Call to Arms). After the change, you’ll earn bonus Honor every 200 points (or 130 during Call to Arms).

Warsong Gulch and Twin Peaks are getting a slightly different treatment. Because these matches tend to take longer than the above Battlegrounds (which directly effects the rate at which you earn Honor from playing them) we wanted to make some changes to speed them up a bit. To do this we’re going to apply the Focused Assault debuff 1 minute after both flags have been picked up, which is 2 minutes earlier than it does currently. Once it’s begun to apply, it will continue to increase at the current rate of 1 stack every minute. On top of that, we’re adding a new bonus at the end of the match: For every flag you prevent the opposing team from capturing (so, every flag under 3), you’ll earn 18 extra Honor.

Lastly, in Strand of the Ancients, we’re doubling the bonus a team earns for destroying a gate (or preventing it from being destroyed).

These hotfixes are currently in production, and will be applied as soon as they are ready. We’ll have an update in the official Hotfix blog once they’re active. We look forward to seeing you on the fields of battle!

From my interpretation, I doubt this hotfix affects reputation gains as they are not trying to change that, only honor gains.
Correct, these fixes only apply to Honor gains.

Will this be in rated as well?
The Focused Assault change applies to Rated Warsong and Twin Peaks matches as well, yes.

Cid wrote:Mind listening to Ledgic about staying on topic, Clara?  

Either way, I like the BG change, it is sorely needed. Hopefully it gives incentive to people to actually do the objectives rather than staying in middle of map farming kills like bots as they do now.

Cid wrote:Mind listening to Ledgic about staying on topic, Clara?  

Either way, I like the BG change, it is sorely needed. Hopefully it gives incentive to people to actually do the objectives rather than staying in middle of map farming kills like bots as they do now.

Warlords of Draenor Developer Interviews
There were a few developer interviews at the recent press events, so today we are taking a look at interviews with Ion Hazzikostas from Yogscast.

Warlords of Draenor Starting Experience
Everyone will have a starting experience in Warlords of Draenor, which will take place before the gameplay in the recent videos.
The normal experience takes place at the Dark Portal, having you go through to stop the impending Iron Horde invasion. You aren't able to defeat the Iron Horde, but you do stop the imminent threat.
Characters that are boosted to Level 90 will have a slightly different experience, with most of the skills removed from their bars and then having abilities unlocked again as they play.

Garrisons
Garrisons should give you access to portions of other professions without making the people that actually have the profession useless.
The mounts in your garrison's stable will be mounts that you own, based on the ones that you use the most.
Garrisons have a new NPC AI system that allows NPCs to behave less like the scripted NPCs we have now.
For example, the Blacksmith could wake up and go to work, work at his forge and become thirsty, eventually taking a break and going to the tavern, and ten finally going back to the barracks to sleep.
This improved AI was made necessary when the team decided to allow players to select where they place buildings in their garrison, making it impossible to pre-script and pre-place all of the NPC interactions.
This system might be used with NPCs in cities and other places in the future.
The location of buildings in your garrison is mostly for personal choice, as the gameplay element of garrisons is selecting which buildings you want for your limited plots.
The team is aware of the problem with the farm in Mists of Pandaria and doesn't want players to feel the need to have garrisons on their alts just to funnel resources to their main.
Players will want to check in with their garrison once per play session, maybe when they log in or out. It won't be a place to idle like cities currently are, as there is no auction house or bank.

Raiding / Misc
There aren't any plans for Mythic only bosses in the Patch 6.0 raids, but there will be some Mythic only elements of the fights, similar to the extra phase on Heroic Garrosh. Mythic only bosses will continue to be added when they make sense.
Ra-den didn't work out as intended. The boss wasn't tested publicly to ensure it remained a surprise and Ion wasn't able to spend as much time as he would have liked watching the internal testing sessions. This resulted in some loopholes in the fight making it live and Ra-den being easier than intended.
The team is aware that the timeline in older content is a little bit inconsistent, but updating the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content would take away from Warlords of Draenor development.

Blizzard wrote:That’s a lot of big changes for healers: reduced throughput, more triage, less powerful “smart” heals, weaker absorbs, fewer spells, and a new focus on efficiency decisions. We’re confident that we can apply lessons learned from previous expansions to make this the best healer experience yet: more dynamic, engaging, non-punishing, and frankly a lot more fun.

erwtenpeller wrote:Word of Glory cast time! Nooooo!