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Continue reading Ask the Devs Round 11 answers your healing questions

Ask the Devs Round 11 answers your healing questions

Posted on July 16, 2011 by admin

Ask the Devs Round 11 focuses on healer and healer-related topics, as Blizzard wraps up this format of questions and answers. Blizzard gave some long and detailed answers for healers this time around, ranging from topics about the nature of the changed healing game in Cataclysm to the choices healers must make in terms of which heal to use in 5-man content versus raid content. The devs also made an interesting remark about a radical new type of healing class that could appear in a later expansion — a radically different type of healer that might bring back players who have become burned out on the role.

As a raider, I think the best answer came for the question about raid healing being hard for healers and why it sometimes feels like damage is unhealable. The devs commented that raids are not meant to be unhealable, and in most circumstances when the fight seems unhealable, players might be taking the wrong approach to the mechanics. Translated: It might not always be the healer’s fault.

Check out all of the questions and answers after the jump.

Filed under: Blizzard, Cataclysm

Ask the Devs Round 11 answers your healing questions originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ask the Devs Round 10 answers your healing questions

Ask the Devs Round 10 answers your healing questions

Posted on July 15, 2011 by admin

Ask the Devs Round 10 focuses on healer and healer-related topics, as Blizzard wraps up this format of questions and answers. Blizzard gave some long and detailed answers for healers this time around, ranging from topics about the nature of the changed healing game in Cataclysm to the choices healers must make in terms of which heal to use in 5-man content versus raid content. The devs also made an interesting remark about a radical new type of healing class that could appear in a later expansion — a radically different type of healer that might bring back players who have become burned out on the role.

Check out all of the questions and answers after the jump.

Filed under: Blizzard, Cataclysm

Ask the Devs Round 10 answers your healing questions originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ask The Devs: Healing answers coming Friday

Posted on July 11, 2011 by admin

The healer edition of the ill-fated Ask The Devs series has been taking quite a bit longer than previous editions of the series. The healers among us took notice of that and hit the forums to find just what the heck was taking so long! Late last week, Blizzard’s Nethaera explained that the answers were delayed due to the devs’ being preoccupied with other obligations. Today, community manager Kaivax announced that the answers would be released Friday of this week.

Ask The Devs 11 Healing Answers Coming Friday

We will be posting a new sticky thread with the answers to thirteen of your most popular questions (on the subject of healing) on Friday, July 15th at 9AM PDT.

source

That may the simplest, most straightforward blue post we’ve seen in nearly seven years of World of Warcraft. No qualifiers, no “Soon,” and no wordplay. High-five, Kaivax. You may be my new favorite.

Filed under: News items

Ask The Devs: Healing answers coming Friday originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ask the Devs 10: DPS answers revealed

Ask the Devs 10: DPS answers revealed

Posted on June 25, 2011 by admin

The ill-fated Ask the Devs series continues to limp forward, this time fielding a number of questions on the topic of “damage dealing.” The development team chose to answer 12 queries dealing with issues specific to DPS classes, from DPS warrior/DK threat, to shadow priests’ ramp up ability, to the devs’ basic philosophy for deciding when a buff or nerf to a DPS ability is needed. Enhancement shaman get a lot of a love in particular — three enhance-specific questions were answered.

The full Q&A is available on the EU and US forums — and, of course, right here at WoW Insider just after the break.

Ask the Devs 10: DPS answers revealed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ask the Devs Round 8 answers your Firelands questions

Ask the Devs Round 8 answers your Firelands questions

Posted on May 26, 2011 by admin

The Ask the Devs question and answer series continues with Round 8, where Blizzard devs answered user-submitted questions about patch 4.2‘s raid content, the Firelands. Players are anxiously awaiting the next tier of raid content, and Blizzard has had a lot to answer for due to the changing nature of patches in the months to come.

Blizzard answers some pretty good questions this time around and even addresses the melee DPS problem in many of the tier 11 raid fights. Some answers are a bit cryptic, however. When discussing the planned Abyssal Maw dungeon (we thought it would be a 5-man, but apparently, raid fights would have taken place there as well), Blizzard says that it believes that the Neptulon story is wrapped up fine with Throne of the Tides but doesn’t make mention of the Abyssal Maw dungeons making a return. They only mention “for now,” so hopefully the complete Neptulon story will be told in the depths of Vashj’ir.

Another interesting point that the devs make is that they don’t really understand the complaint that some aspects of the raid game are too easy, when they look at the number of people who have completed the 25-man heroic encounters in relation to the normal content modes. Also, the devs wanted to stress that they were not trying to turn 25-man raiding guilds into 10-man raiding guilds and actively tried to make the 10- and 25-man versions of encounters similar in order to stress that point.

I am very excited for a new Lady Vashj bridge in the Firelands, though. WoW always has the coolest bridges. Read the full Q&A after the jump.

Filed under: Blizzard, Raiding, Cataclysm

Ask the Devs Round 8 answers your Firelands questions originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 May 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ask A Dev #7 Answers: Professions

Ask A Dev #7 Answers: Professions

Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin

The Blizzard developers have posted their answers to the latest round of the Ask A Dev series, this time focusing on professions. Some of the major highlights:

Blizzard wants to add more “fun themed” items in enchanting, like magic lanterns.
Blizzard will “give it a shot” at adding unique icons if you’re tracking more than one harvestable item in the mini-map.
Book of Glyph Mastery will no longer be required — discovery spells will let you discover every possible glyph!
Chaos Orbs will become unbound in a future patch.
Archaeology dailies are being added in a future patch.

After the break, the full answers to Ask A Dev #7: Professions.

Filed under: News items

Ask A Dev #7 Answers: Professions originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 16 May 2011 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Encrypted Text: Answers to your rogue questions

Encrypted Text: Answers to your rogue questions

Posted on April 21, 2011 by admin

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or comments you have.

My favorite part of playing a rogue is the camaraderie that I can share with my fellow assassins. There’s an amazing web of players that make up the rogue community, and they’re willing to spend their time and energy to help other rogues out. Whether it’s Antiarc and Aldriana’s Shadowcraft or Ieatpaperbag’s informational threads for combat and assassination, there’s such a wealth of great information available for those who seek it. While our numbers may be few, the rogue community is still powerful.

If you have a question about your rogue that you just can’t figure out, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Elitist Jerks has a simple questions thread dedicated to quelling your uncertainties, and you can always consult a more senior rogue for advice and guidance. I regularly receive emails with questions from old rogues and new rogues alike. I’ve been seeing several messages with similar questions lately, and I think that the answers are worth delving into.

Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

Encrypted Text: Answers to your rogue questions originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Blizzard answers your questions in Ask the Devs Q&A

Posted on March 15, 2011 by admin

If you’ve been waiting for the answers to the Ask the Devs Q&A, your wait is over. Not only have they answered the first installment of questions, the fine folks at Blizzard have even opened a new thread for more questions you may be burning to ask.

Questions this time out ranged from PvP/PvE balance issues to death knight mastery runeforges to why moonkin don’t have Execute. I personally found the discussions on Outland quest flow and why Blizzard doesn’t just separate PvP and PvE spells to be pretty interesting. Take a look and pose your own questions if you don’t see what you wanted answered this time out.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items

Blizzard answers your questions in Ask the Devs Q&A originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Lawbringer: Questions and answers from the mailbag

The Lawbringer: Questions and answers from the mailbag

Posted on February 26, 2011 by admin

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

Welcome, friends. Take a seat. Your journey must have been long and difficult. Fear not, we are a house of respite here at The Lawbringer, where you get to kick your feet up on the chair in front of you before going back to the drudgery of Friday afterno — Oh. Well, then.

Answering mail is fun. In fact, it’s something I do a lot of. As WoW Insider’s addon and UI columnist, I get many questions a day about all sorts of user interface problems, concerns, and opinions. After writing The Lawbringer, I began to get a new brand of email that was all about readers having awesome thoughts and questions about Blizzard policy, types of decision-making criteria, and issues all over the board. I love it! So this week, I’m dedicating some time to answering a few questions from my email that I think are worthy topics.

And, just a reminder: If you’ve got a question for The Lawbringer column or me, please drop me an email at mat@wowinsider.com. I love taking questions, and they make some pretty great article-fodder for columns such as the one you are about to read.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer

The Lawbringer: Questions and answers from the mailbag originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.