Mar 4 Hotfixes, Level 100 Neutral Pandaren, Hearthstone at G

[Haggle]

Changes to Vanilla Sets, PTR Legendary Buff Off, Fire or Ice DH



Hearthstone UI Design, Mobile Start Screens, Deck Spotlight: Spark's Deadly Tactics



Closed Beta Test Friend Invites Incoming, Upcoming Mount Changes



Patch 6.1 Hotfixes - March 4

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Darkmoon Faire

• Tonk Challenge
  
  
  • Players are no longer able to destroy other players' Tonk Targets.
  • Increased the number of Tonk Targets spawned at the start of a Tonk Challenge session to 9 (up from 7). This should make the Ace Tonk Commander achievement more obtainable.

Classes

• Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  
  • General
    
    
    • Fixed an issue where Ferocious Bite may sometimes consume an incorrect amount of Energy when the ability misses.
• Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  
  • Discipline
    
    
    • Archangel should no longer incorrectly increase Flash Heal's mana cost.
• Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)
  
  
  • Enhancement
    
    
    • Fixed an issue where Lava Lash was not spreading Flame Shock to some targets.

Raids and Dungeons

• Blackrock Foundry
  
  
  • The Blast Furnace
    
    
    • Phase 1: Security Guard's Defense ability now reduces damage taken by most allies by 90% (down from 99%).
• Grimrail Depot
  
  
  • Skylord Tovra: Fixed an issue where Rakun may not placing pools of Diffused Energy correctly while flying overhead.
• Legacy
  
  
  • Icecrown Citadel: Players should now be able to change between Normal and Heroic difficulty after defeating Valithria Dreamwalker.

Pet Battle

• Battle Pet Abilities
  
  
  • Sandstorm should now correctly reduce damage dealt to all pets.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a graphical issue that could occur by using Reflecting Prism on a character that's transformed and riding a mount.
• Fixed an error in calculating the shortest flight path from Ironforge to the Isle of Quel'Danas.

Doubleagent - Level 100 Neutral Pandaren

Doubleagent has finally hit level 100!

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Character / Items

6.1 and Monk transmog set from the salvage yard is still broken. Gloves and shoulders can't be used for transmog. Frustrating.

This is the intended functionality for those items as they are "invisible". (WarcraftDevs)



Seriously, , why change the way the coffee and mining picks worked? Now I'm getting 0 picks, have coffee coming out of my ears

You can obtain a permanent mining speed bonus from a treasure in Spires, and the coffee buff now stacks! (WarcraftDevs)



Can't use my Chauffeured Chopper on my brand new Panda Monk the tool tip says "you are not the right faction for this mount"

Mounts (code-wise) don't support a non-faction, and these mounts are also visually faction-specific. Unlikely to be changed. (WarcraftDevs)



PvP

why make it so wins in the main event in ashran don't give conquest? alliance can't win side events so now it's impossible

The two factions were avoiding each other in Ashran. We are altering rewards to encourage competition. (WarcraftDevs)

how about making a continent wide buff to encourage PvP in ashran

thanks we're on it (holinka)



Please make a post and explain your intentions in hunter/feral buffs in an pvp environment.The burst is just crazy.

We're monitoring how recent damage increases are affecting PvP and we'll make any adjustments accordingly. (WarcraftDevs)

GDC 2015 - How Blizzard's Warcraft Brought Hearthstone to Life

Gamespot has a nice video of the talk Blizzard gave about creating the Hearthstone UI. Some of the highlights are below:



Early Concepts

• The initial game that got approved was Warcraft Legends, with a build called Fire and Ice.
• One concept had players traveling across the world doing single player quests and content.
• The game was initially created entirely in Flash.
• The pre-alpha board was complicated and looked boring.
• Other ideas that came up were an Adventure Book, 3D Cards, Hologram Cards, a board that was a tree stump
• The initial matchmaking screen had an over the top hero selection animation with sound effects, hero voice emotes, and ending with a "Fight" sound.
• The next itteration had a box that opened to a map of the world. You then selected your hero, the map ripped in half to reveal a Google Earth like video of Azeorth, zooming in while showing names of players battling. Once your match was found, both player names were displayed and the somewhat familiar Hearthstone board appeared.
• The box still exists in a more polished form in the live game. Treys and keys are used in the UI to go along with the box theme.
• The box had to sit somewhere, so the team decided it was sitting on a table in a tavern, which you can see in different loading and other screens.
• The same idea was fully realized for Blizzcon, with a very nice Hearthstone tavern stage set.

Physical UI

• The UI started with a flat parchment style UI, then they decided it should be more 3D. Next they made it more physical, added magic, added some charm, and then made it feel valuable and constructed.
• The current trend is building flat UIs, which didn't fit Hearthstone. The team went for a more physical UI, as it fit the game better.
• The physical UI made things like keys, card backs, and card packs feel more valuable.
• Opening a pack of cards is an important part of the experience. The team tried to replicate the physical experience of opening a card pack with the game's sounds and visuals.
• Many parts of the UI bounce or rotate, giving them a more physical feel.
• The physical UI worked out well when the team decided to bring the game to mobile devices. The UI already had a lot of nice elements for touch, such as the cards tilting when you moved them around and clicking the board causing dust to fly up.
• The game has a lot of over the shoulder appeal, which is important for a collectable card game. Someone walking by and seeing you play it will be interested.
• The physical UI is hard to expand. Currently the screen has nine hero slots, but how can it be rearranged for more.
• It took a long time and a lot of tries to get the UI right, but it was important because that is a huge part of the game.
• The physical UI also is designed for flavor over efficiency, to a certain extent.

UI Importance

• Some games come up with mechanics and gameplay and then treat the UI as an afterthought. The Hearthstone team realized that the UI design was as important as the game design.
• If the UI was too complicated, it was a signal to design that things may be too complicated.
• The board could only fit 7 minions as designed, so rather than scaling them down the team capped it at 7.
• Decks were initially 60 cards, with the list on the right scrolling down over three pages. It was too much for new players to keep in their head.
• An older concept allowed for chains, where your opponent could play a card, you could play a card in response to that card, and so on. This was a mess visually and complicated to design and play, so it was removed.
• The team starts with a feature by some simple wireframing, then iterates on it in 2D until it feels right, and then brings in 3D to make sure it will work.

Q&A

• There are no plans to allow modification of Hearthstone like addons allow in WoW.
• There is a UI group that meets and the other teams are taking note of how the physical UI worked well.
• No effects are sacrificed for the mobile versions of Hearthstone, they just optimize them so performance is acceptable.
• Hearthstone on phones is pretty far along and looks awesome, so expect to hear more in the next couple of months.
• The need for more deck slots is a known issue that is under discussion.

NerfNow #1503 - Token

NerfNow #1503 takes a look at the impact of the WoW Token.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/475 ... ts-NerfNow