The gold amounts on the following encounters have been substantially reduced: Flame Leviathan, Magtheridon, Gruul the Dragonkiller, Doom Lord Kazzak, and all encounters in Karazhan.

I understand the nerfs to FL, Mags and DLK (though I note Doomwalker is missing from this list). These were all encounters that were far too easy to solo at 85 for them to be dropping heaps of cash (several hundred gold for between five and twenty minutes of work).

But Karazhan still takes a considerable amount of time, and 30 to 40 gold per boss isn’t much at all. The time you spend in Karazhan you could be spending doing two sets of dailies to make roughly the same amount of gold in the same amount of time. Furthermore, it does not come close to the profitability of herbing and mining, and you can only clear Karazhan once per week. So there really is no reason to nerf the gold drops there, epecially since the philanthropists were already nerfed in WotLK.

Just pointing that out. I don’t think it’s wise for Blizzard to overdo these changes, as people do have their preferences for farming gold and find some options more enjoyable than others.

Moonfury (Balance druid mastery) is being changed from 15% to 6% Arcane and Nature damage.

…
In [the cases of balance druids, shadow priests and fury warriors] we’ve been closely monitoring performance since the patch and all 3 specs are currently doing too much damage in PvE. (Source)

Balance druids were doing too much damage with starfall the way it was before it was hotfixed on Thursday, and this was only on multi-target fights to begin with (Valiona and Theralion, Ascendant Council, etc.). With the reversion of starfall to worse than its original state, this change is unnecessary.

The problem is that it picks a target for each star. However, if the target it picks doesn’t have an aggro table, or is not in combat, that star doesn’t hit anything at all. So if my starfall tries to hit ten targets that are in combat, and then ten that are out of combat, only ten stars will fall. This is compared to the twenty stars it is supposed to land on two or more targets.

To compound this problem, any mob that doesn’t have an aggro table (such as Magmaw’s head or XT’s heart) won’t be a valid target for starfall at all. This was much to my annoyance last night on Magmaw.

I understand Blizzard’s intention with this change, but this new feature has caused more bugs than problems it has fixed. I’m hoping Blizzard will hotfix the spell back to its original version until they can implement a well-designed and properly tested version of the spell.

Real ID friends can also see who’s on each other’s Real ID friends list, making it easy for players to connect with other people they know.

I realize I can decline to add people who add me after spotting me on a friend’s list. But I don’t want to be subjected to people asking me why I haven’t added them, because I only like to chat with close friends when I’m playing other games.

I am willing to bet there’s a ton of people in the same boat.

With this in mind, I propose it’s time to support actual trade activity with an interface, rather than a chat channel. Something where a person can post their needed goods and offered services without having to post an advertising message once an minute (or less) between the spam.

To some degree, one could argue the auction house already provides us with the means to buy and sell products, especially now that enchants can also be posted there. But the AH is not entirely reliable when it comes to items that are difficult to create. A crafter cannot easily come across primordial saronite, so he or she is not likely to post the items that require it on the AH. Rather, the typical production process for such gear is accomplished by the customer providing rare materials and the crafter rendering his or her services.

So I am going to make a proposal to solve this issue. If you’re in a city, you should be able to post your crafting and enchanting services, or the items you desire to be crafted, using a fully featured interface to promote trade. Anyone in a city can browse this list of services and goods, enabling them to negotiate a deal. This interface should also allow people to advertise what they are charging or offering for said services, including the ability to trag their services with an “optional tip,” “free,” or “negotiable.”

If you agree, I challenge you to repeat this or a similar suggestion to Blizzard. The more people suggest it, the more likely Blizzard will consider it!

For nearly six years, we’ve shared our thoughts with one and other, we’ve laughed, we’ve argued, and we’ve cried — the crying part was just me wasn’t it? Those times, I’m afraid must come to an end as I’ve made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Blizzard.

It has very honestly been a huge pleasure, and I thank you all for allowing ‘Eyonix’ to always remain a very fond memory as I move on.

Not many community managers and representatives have earned my respect. You are, however, one of them. Good luck in your future endeavors!

Avoid SoundMax like the plague. Especially if you want to record games using Fraps or other programs.

Edit: Also avoid Creative sound cards if you want to record using Fraps and other programs (though you can record if you get an 3.5mm splitter, connect the output to the line-in, and record directly from there).

Honestly, it makes me wonder why the database system still has major issues over five years after release. I think it’s time Blizzard seriously considered an overhaul of the system, because this can’t keep happening with every major patch and maintenance. Is it a lot of work? You bet. But it’s better than losing a day of play every time a patch is released, or more in this case.

But the atmosphere of Icecrown is ruined by excessive gating and limited attempts. When someone in my raid is having lag issues, I am annoyed. Not at the people with the latency woes, but at the game design. I have to pressure people with lag to sit so as not to potentially lose a shot at killing the boss. And when someone makes the most innocent of mistakes, people get pissed off. It’s not fun for them. And it’s not fun for me as a result.

As far as gating goes, I think a gate should have existed only for Arthas. Instead, the instance feels extremely fractured by the existence of several blockades. The awe is not at all seamless, as a result. It’s broken, causing the instance to lose its luster each time you have to wait for the next door to open. The impact of the atmosphere and my enjoyment is lessened as a consequence.

I think raiders shouldn’t have the fear of God struck into them for wiping just once. I think it’s a flawed game to play in that regard. It’s one of the reasons why I stepped back from hardcore raiding in the first place. And now that I’m casual, my satisfaction is still hindered by the same issues that caused me to lose some enjoyment in hardcore raiding. I thought it’d go up substantially. I thought I’d be able to laugh and shrug if we don’t get a boss and run out of attempts. But it’s difficult not to think about that, simply because that limited attempt number exists.

It’d have been a great instance, save for those two issues. Instead, Blizzard feels the need to have gating to protect the irresponsible players who ruin their lives competing. Don’t believe that played a part in Blizzard’s decision? You should read the Icecrown article from the first issue of the official WoW magazine. I will quote the reference explicitly.

Players tend to take on everything we give them as soon as we give it to them. What we’ve found is that if we give them access to twelve bosses, they will run those bosses day and night until they beat them all, to [the players'] own detriment.

These are the words of Tom Chilton. Need I remind Blizzard those people are a small percentage of players. And it shouldn’t be up to a gaming company to police their behavior through game mechanics. They will find other ways to satiate their addiction. When they run out of content to attempt, they will roll alts and do it a second time. Hell, most top guilds do that so they have the option of having a better raid composition, anyhow. And if WoW doesn’t allow them to satiate that addiction, they will simply turn to other games, be it Dragon Age, Call of Duty, or whatever the current flavor of the month or year happens to be.

If Blizzard wants to help gamers with their addiction problems, they should fund studies of the “condition” and provide monetary aid for programs that help treat it, instead of subjecting people, no matter how responsible, to being coddled. Not all of us warrant such treatment.

Then What Are the Positives? (Stop Whining, Lume!)

I “whine” (I’d use the word “criticize” instead, but some people are going to call it whining), because I try to protect the game I like. And there are things to like about the raiding game. To succinctly list what I like:

1. The music.
2. The artwork.
3. The encounter design.
4. The story. (Save me the complaints about Jaina crying and the dramatic lich. It’s still awesome in the grand scheme, so far.)

There are still many unknowns. Namely, the rest of the encounters, and the hard modes. We’ll see about those. But, so far, that’s my take on the instance.

I also like the basic idea of having a raid-wide buff to make bosses easier to kill over time. This way, people aren’t perpetually stuck on a boss months into their attempts, while allowing more hardcore guilds to defeat something before the buff comes into effect. But the details are not yet known, so it’s difficult to develop an full opinion just yet.

We’ll see how the rest of it plays out over the next few months.