Wintergrasp Information, Blue posts 12/18/2009

Wintergrasp Information

Quote from: Bornakk (Source)We wanted to address some of the confusion we often see regarding the Battle for Wintergrasp. We will not provide exact details on how the system works to try and avoid abuse of the mechanics, but there is a system in place that can change how the battle plays out.

When one faction defends more than the other, the system will give advantages like the ability to use catapults or siege tanks faster to the faction that is on the offensive. On realms where one faction is often able to defend the fortress and the other faction rarely defends, the system tries to help this balance by providing bonuses to the faction that rarely succeeds at defending.

Blue posts

Quote from Blizzard staffNo Strength DPS Ring @ Ashen Verdict
The reason we haven't added one is actually a frustrating technical issue that prevents us from having more than 4 rewards on a quest like this. We do intend to fix this though and add a strength ring in the future, we just aren't sure this will be done for the Ashen Verdict line or if it will have to wait until the next time we use a system like this in a future patch.

[...] There are a lot of restrictions on these rings and we don't expect players to understand how tricky some technical issues can be.

We have done the four ring system in the past and while players may be a bit more selective about their stats these days, we don't want players to expect every source of loot to have perfect itemization for every class and every spec. There are other alternatives if you are unhappy with this option. (Source)

Need Before Greed in Cross-Realms Dungeons: Trinkets
There are some trinkets that are improperly classified in the Need Before Greed system. These are typically things that proc and the procs are hard to detect. We’re getting them fixed. (Source)

Cataclysm PvP
"Bring the player" refers to the way we shared more buffs and debuffs for PvE purposes so that building a raid isn't so restricted.

I'm not sure there's ever going to be a way you can just grab random people and expect to accomplish much in a competitive Arena. Part of our focus on BGs in Cataclysm is to let players PvP without having to worry so much about their comp. We're not necessarily trying to encourage any player with interest to step into Arenas in the same way we are with raiding in LK. (Source)

PvP rewards in Cataclysm
The answer is that we are changing the way we do that for Cataclysm and allow players to earn the same epic PvP gear for rated BGs. This does not mean you can grind your way through BGs. You'll have to win. It should feel roughly equivalent to those guilds capable of beating the most difficult encounters getting the best PvE gear. (Source)

Balancing classes for PvP
We think one of the problems is that we've spent too much effort balancing around specific specs instead of teams. But it's actually the comp that is super important. In the past we've given a spec with presumably low survivability more survivability or a class with marginal CC better CC. Increasingly though, we think that's a shotgun approach. What we are doing now is looking in terms of a, typically 3-player, team. What does a Balance druid bring to the table? Why would you want a warlock instead of a Frost mage? Those types of questions. We want to make sure there is at least one viable comp for each spec and then we can adjust those specs by answering the question: Okay, why is A being brought more than B?

The flip side of that is why you'd want to be spec A of your class when spec B is more attractive to the other players. Whenver you buff A, you risk B falling off though.

Too often the forum discussions (and not just our forums) rally around very specific questions, such as: how do I beat this guy? Or, why do I get blown up so fast? Those can be useful at identifying weaknesses, but ultimately it's the synergy with the other players on the team that is more important. (I'm only talking about Arenas here. Coordination in BGs is still important. It's just very different.)

P.S. Too often the forum discussions also focus too much on what the best players are capable of doing. Many players would get more information by looking at what the average Arena players are doing. The best players are where they are because they just really know what they're doing. PvP balance for them is going to be different than it is for the average player. (Not more or less important. Just different.)

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Chains of Ice Bugs
We are hotfixing some of the bugs related to using Chains of Ice on a snare-immune target. (Source)

Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Everlasting Affliction
Hotfix incoming. I can't give you a precise day or time. To be clear, when the dust settles for 3.3, both Shadow Bolt and Drain Soul will also count for Everlasting Affliction refreshing Corruption in addition to Haunt and Drain Life. (Source)

Warlocks AOE Spells
First thank you for posting, constructively. Our intent is for Seed of Corruption to be more attractive to Affliction, and Rain of Fire more attractive to Destruction. Before the flames begin, please note the word "intent". We realize that is not always the case, depending on numerous variables. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Sweeping Strikes / Bladestorm
We are working on a fix so that Sweeping Strikes can no longer trigger multiple times per second when used with Bladestorm. Each whirlwind caused by Bladestorm will only trigger one Sweeping Strike regardless of the number of targets in range - the current Whirlwind ability already works this way.

The goal of Sweeping Strikes is to hit extra targets, not to do more damage to existing targets to burst them down quickly. We’ll evaluate Bladestorm again once this change has gone live to see if any further changes are needed. (Source)

[...] Bladestorm should not be able to use Sweeping Strikes to transfer all that damage to a single target. As I said above, the purpose of Sweeping Strikes is to hit *additional* targets not just cause more damage to existing targets. I believe Whirlwind works with Sweeping Strikes correctly, so we'd like to get Bladestorm to work the same way.

This change will then let us see if any of the concern about Bladestorm in PvP is founded or if it's not an issue without Sweeping Strikes inflating the damage.

We don't think this will be a real nerf to PvE Arms warriors, but if it chills out their AE damage in those very specific situations where there are several closely grouped adds and Arms damage skyrockets, then I agree that's a good thing. (Source)