Kaivax

Tomorrow, Friday, October 16, we will continue our raid tests in Naxxramas, with the Arachnid Quarter.

2:00 p.m. PDT (5:00 p.m. EDT) to 6:00 p.m. PDT (9:00 p.m. EDT)

Available Bosses:

• Anub’Rekhan
• Grand Widow Faerlina
• Maexxna

This testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a test environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?
A: To facilitate and expedite testing, there is an NPC named Johnny McWeaksauce that has taken up temporary residence at Light’s Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands. He will provide players with Naxxramas attunement and instant teleportation into the Naxxramas raid. Johnny’s brother Jimmy,...

For the last few expansions, World of Warcraft minimum specs have required a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that is shader-model-5 compatible (DirectX 11.0 or higher). With the newer graphical features included in the Shadowlands Pre-patch, the game has ceased supporting all GPUs that are not compatible with shader-model-5.

We’ve discovered that a very small number of players are attempting to run World of Warcraft on older hardware that cannot play the game after patching.

At this time, we’re working on a solution that could allow the game to operate on some older hardware, at the lowest graphical settings, with some graphic features unavailable. We expect this solution to take at least a couple of weeks to develop and test.

We will let you know when this workaround is available. Thank you.

Hello.

Yes, the companion app is currently unavailable today (Wednesday, October 14).

Simply put, we had a bug with the new version of the app that goes with the Shadowlands pre-patch, and we’re releasing an updated and fixed version soon.

The fixed version may be available in your device’s store before we’ve had a chance to do the WoW realm restarts that are required for it to all work.

After you’ve gotten the app update, and we’ve done realm restarts in this region, it should work as expected.

A little while ago, we enabled the Scourge Invasion on the Public Test Realm (PTR).

This event was first released with original WoW patch 1.11, and will happen in WoW Classic concurrent with the release of the Naxxramas raid.

The basic structure of this event is that Necropoleis appear in six different zones, with crystals spawning beneath, and undead spawning around those. Killing the undead allows you to combat the crystals, which in turn allows you to clear the necropolis and defend the zone.

You’ll find scourge invasions marked on the World Map with a purple skull in:

Eastern Plaguelands
Burning Steppes
Blasted Lands
Tanaris
Winterspring
Azshara

See you there!

There were changes made to Gladiator titles and mounts over the course of the Shadowlands Beta, so we’d like to clarify our intentions.

• Each season, the “Adjective Gladiator” title (e.g. Sinister Gladiator or Corrupted Gladiator) is awarded to characters that end the season in the top 0.1% of the 3v3 Arena ladder. This title is permanent and character specific, and includes legacy “Rank 1” titles which were earned under the old Battlegroup system.
• The “Gladiator” title is awarded to characters that win 50 3v3 games while at the Elite Rank. This title is seasonal – it is available for the duration of the season in which it is earned, and it is character specific.
• The Gladiator mount (e.g. the Corrupted Gladiator’s Proto-Drake) is awarded under the same circumstances as the “Gladiator” title and is available to all characters on that account permanently.

Going into Shadowlands, the availability of the mount is the only change here. Any othe...

Yes, and there were changes made to Gladiator titles and mounts over the course of the Shadowlands Beta, so we’d like to clarify our intentions.

• Each season, the “Adjective Gladiator” title (e.g. Sinister Gladiator or Corrupted Gladiator) is awarded to characters that end the season in the top 0.1% of the 3v3 Arena ladder. This title is permanent and character specific, and includes legacy “Rank 1” titles which were earned under the old Battlegroup system.
• The “Gladiator” title is awarded to characters that win 50 3v3 games while at the Elite Rank. This title is seasonal – it is avai...

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 15, we will be begin our raid tests in Naxxramas, starting with the Military Quarter.

2:00 p.m. PDT (5:00 p.m. EDT) to 6:00 p.m. PDT (9:00 p.m. EDT)

Available Bosses:

• Instructor Razuvious
• Gothik the Harvester
• The Four Horsemen

Known Issues:

• Gothik the Harvester’s encounter may fail to clean up properly after a wipe.

This testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a test environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?
A: To facilitate and expedite testing, there is an NPC named Johnny McWeaksauce that has taken up temporary residence at Light’s Hope Chapel ...

Following further review, we’ve decided to wait to address this issue. The change announced for this week will not be implemented.

We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve developed a solution to the issue of non-existent characters being counted, that conforms with the great deal of feedback we’ve received.

Correct.

As we work through issues that are making leveling through Ardenweald and Revendreth slower than intended, we’ve seen some Beta testers reach a point where they have to spend extra time finding XP in order to complete the Revendreth campaign.

We’re creating a more comprehensive fix, and that’s going to take a few days, but in the meantime, this is a Beta hotfix that boosts quest experience in Ardenweald and Revendreth, so that testers can have a smoother leveling experience in the meantime.

There’s a big update to the app on the way!

I just want to confirm that an intentional fix was made a couple of days ago to allow experience gains to be disabled while in Timewalking Campaigns.

We are currently in the process of tuning Legendary items, so in this latest Shadowlands Beta build, you may see many a number of Legendary effects have had their power reduced.

We’ve recently had internal discussions about our tuning targets for Legendaries and concluded that we were aiming too low with respect to their power. We’re working through another tuning pass on all of these items, and you should see further adjustments in an upcoming build.

Thank you for all of the feedback about Shadow Vault. We set out to create a cool new AoE finisher for Subtlety Rogues, but heard your feedback that Shadow Vault was frustrating due to its knockup effect.

Additionally, the visual similarity with Shuriken Storm was bound to get repetitive as you alternate between the generator and finisher. We created a new visual kit based on the idea of launching an explosive black powder over the heads of your enemies.

Please let us know what you think about this version of the finisher.

Hello.

In this week’s PTR and Shadowlands Beta builds, the 5% bonus damage component has been removed from the Hunter’s Mark ability.

Hunter’s Mark is a cool Hunter class ability with unique functionality that we don’t want to get rid of, so we’re adjusting it to be solely for utility as its core functionality.

Hunter’s Mark will remain on the GCD, and it will still provide visibility against a stealthed target.

In this week’s Shadowlands Beta build, Soulbinds have had their tree layouts changed in a small, but important, way. All Soulbinds now have access to 2 Potency Conduit sockets, whereas previously all trees had 3 Potency sockets. The goal of this change is to increase the flexibility of Soulbinds, and make it more viable to use one Soulbind for multiple specializations.

Due to Potency Conduits’ effects being mostly spec-specific, they are the Conduits most likely to make a Soulbind layout feel locked-in to one specialization. While we expect this to be a natural way for many players to engage with Soulbinds –- picking one Soulbind per spec, and building them out accordingly –- we want to make sure there is room to discover other setups that work for you, based on the content you prefer to participate in.

The removed Potency sockets have been replaced with either an Endurance or Finesse sockets which, by virtue of primarily being class-wide effects, are easier to justify...

We have a known issue with the new build of the Shadowlands Beta that is going up today. Players in a group may encounter an issue when queuing for Torghast.

When you encounter this bug, the “Climb” button for queuing will displays an error that reads, “Please gather your party before queuing.”

To avoid this issue, form your Torghast party before entering the Torghast portal.

If you’re already in a group, this issue can be resolved by remaining grouped, exiting the Torghast lobby, and re-entering the Torghast portal. Doing so should display a red button for “Climb”, and the party leader can now queue the group.

Thanks!

Updated October 13, 8:00 a.m. PDT

Following further review, we’ve decided to wait to address this issue. The change announced for this week will not be implemented.

We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve developed a solution to the issue of non-existent characters being counted, that conforms with the great deal of feedback we’ve received.

With a hotfix to WoW Classic that will take effect before the next weekly honor calculations on October 13, any player-characters that are currently deleted will no longer be counted as part of the total pool of PvP participants.

Thank you very much!

The next version of WoW Classic is now available for testing on the Public Test Realm (PTR).

Naxxramas

Floating above the Plaguelands, the necropolis known as Naxxramas serves as the seat of one of the Lich King’s most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel’Thuzad. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are gathering inside the necropolis as the Lich King’s servants prepare their assault. The Scourge marches again…

Please note: Raid testing in this PTR will be available only at designated times.

Items and Content

This patch includes the following new pursuits:

• Being exalted with your Warsong Gulch faction now offers epic-quality leg gear.
• Crafted nature resist pieces are now available with Cenarion Circle reputation.
• Nature resist enchants for leg and head gear are now available from Zul’Gurub.
• Several skill books for new skill ranks (Frost Ward, Sh...

Weekly maintenance next week will include the Shadowlands Pre-patch, and that means the end of Battle for Azeroth PvP Season 4, and the beginning of the post-season.

While placement on the season ladder will be locked for any end-of-season rewards such as the Gladiator mount or title, you can continue to earn Conquest towards the Conquest Schedule, gain random PvP loot, and collect catch-up gear rewarded from strongboxes. You can also purchase Corrupted Aspirant gear from vendors located in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.

If you participated in Season 4, to ensure you receive the rewards that you’re due, please:

• Refrain from transferring your character(s) to another realm or faction until after Battle for Azeroth Season 4 has ended.
• Expect that Battle for Azeroth Season 4 titles and mounts will be awarded approximately two weeks after the season ends.
• Note that PvP Leaderboards will not be available until the start of the new Shadowlands PvP sea...

Hello. We’ve looked into this, and it is a bug, sort of.

The way our system for granting Shadowlands Beta access works is: it flags the Battle.net account, and at the same time flags the whole account for Shadowlands Beta forum access.

Months ago, we had an issue where those who were flagged for the Shadowlands Beta weren’t receiving their forum access. In order to resolve that issue, we hardwired forum access to a marker on the account that says “this is a Beta account”.

The side effect of this was: any account that had Beta access in the last two Betas (Legion or Battle for Azeroth) is now able to post in these Shadowlands Beta forums.

We’...