Feb. 6, 2008
Je ne parle pas francais!
Or do I? From one of the WOW-EU posters, Thyvene, about the legendary bow that’s been rumored/discussed for patch 2.4:
A few more details on this legendary weapon : it will be a loot like the Warglaives of Azzinoth, not a reward from a quest like Thunderfury.
No gathering 500 bars of Eternium. That makes me so glad. Also, don’t expect sweeping class changes immediately upon the PTR release, since Nethaera said:
I’m going to be a bit cautious in what I say in this regard. Will there be some changes to classes? Yes, there will be some. We’re not rushing into a bunch of class changes for this patch at this point. Consider the patch to be a bit more progressive in nature. As we go along, the developers are going to be keeping a close eye on the results of any changes and additions and then making changes as they feel they are necessary. How many changes occur are going to be based on testing over time. This is why it’s important for players to get in and test it as much as possible.
We want to make sure that the changes we are making are viable and practical for continued balance of the classes and don’t want to put in too many changes at once and essentially skew the results too much one way or another.
Supposedly, we may be only hours away from 2.4 being on the PTR, so I guess we’ll know when we know.
Jan. 15, 2008
Yes, no, maybe so
Although we were told back in November of 2007 that the Grimtotem Spirit Guide, while not a beast that was intentionally able to be tamed, it would remain tameable because it was a “fun use of in-game mechanics”. Unfortunately, it was apparently too good to last and Hunters can no longer tame them. We received this explanation from Drysc about it:
Through a hotfix we’ve recently removed the ability to tame a Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Players who have already gone through the trouble of taming the creature will be able to keep them unchanged. This hotfix only removes the possibility to tame this creature from here on.
The removal of the spirit guide has been debated within design discussions for a while now as to what impact the pet and its precedent has on the game. The unintended nature of the taming, the undead status of the guide, appearance of the wolf in relation to the feel of the hunter class, and the complex processes of taming were all issues touched upon and discussed.
Ultimately the discussions brought us to the conclusion that this should not be a permanent addition to the pet selection available to hunters; however, those that have already tamed them should be allowed to keep them due to their efforts in obtaining one.
This, of course, has sparked a hot debate about the decision – more that it was hotfixed and not announced in, say, the 2.4 patch notes that it would be changed and thusly allow any remaining players who wished to tame them to do so. I have to agree that a warning, especially in light of the fact that it had previously been stated that they would remain tameable, would have gone a long way in stemming the tide of negative backlash that has occurred as a result.
Jan. 9, 2008
Lock up the lions, or they will eat you
Patch day, long overdue. Here are the Hunter related notes, in case you missed them. Since it was on the Test server for so long, nothing really comes as a surprise (so far, anyway):
- Arcane Shot: Ranks 1-5 will once again deal bonus damage based on attack power.
- Aspect of the Viper effect increased.
- Freezing Trap is no longer limited to one target at a time.
- Pet leveling speed has been increased.
- Fixed various problems with /castsequence getting stuck.
- /cast will toggle spells again unless the name is prefixed with an exclamation mark, e.g. /castsequence Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
- Fixed “Spell/Ability is not ready yet” message when clicking quickly at the beginning of a cast.
Personal note, I could have done without the change to the Halloween broom mounts. Running that event 5+ times a day, I thought I’d stockpiled enough brooms to last until Wrath of the Lich King but alas.
Dec. 22, 2007
Happy Holidays
Another year has come and almost gone. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and thank everyone for their kind support over the last year (and previous years!) 2007 was great, but 2008 promises to be even better! I know that everyone is probably already counting the days until the next expansion and who can blame them? It isn’t a big secret, either, that TKA will AGAIN be undergoing another site recode (I’m never satisfied, am I) and while I won’t promise a definite date on it, it will for certain be before Wrath of the Lich King hits the shelves. I’m very excited about it!
I also want to take a moment to mention that there are many ways to help those less fortunate than yourself during the holiday season and being the animal lover that I am, this year, I’ve donated to the Cat Adoption Team. The Cat Adoption Team (CAT) is the Pacific Northwest’s largest non-profit, no-kill cat shelter with its own full service veterinary hospital on-site. You can always search for local no-kill shelters in your area as well and if money this holiday season is a little tigher than you’d like, many of these organizations have wish lists such as cat toys, food or even simple things like garbage bags! As hunters, our pets are a part of who we are – extend that partnership to local animals and shelters who are doing wonderful work every day.
Again, thank you for your support of TKA Something in 2007 and we’ll see you in 2008!
Nov. 30, 2007
Is taming Grimtotem Spirit Guide intended?
In case you’ve missed it, the Grimtotem Spirit Guide (a 'transparent’ wolf from Dustwallow) has been the subject of much debate since the 2.3 patch – was it intentional that we could tame it, even if we had to jump through hoops to do it (spell haste and more spell haste!). Well, good news for those who have tamed said wolf and those who were debating getting one. From Issuntril, a EU-Blizzard poster:
While this feature of the Grimtotem Spirit Guide wasn’t exactly intended, it was agreed by the development team that this is a fun use of in-game mechanics, and we therefore have no plans to address this issue – it will still be possible in future for everyone who wishes to tame this NPC to do so. :)
This wasn’t the answer I was expecting either, but it’s good news. So tame to your heart’s content. Also, be aware, /castsequence is again changing in the 2.3.2 patch.
- /cast will toggle spells again unless the name is prefixed with an exclamation mark, e.g. /castsequence Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
All reports from the Test realm say that while this wasn’t working correctly when Test first went up, it will function how we want it to upon release of the patch, so breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully this will spell the end of /castsequence issues for a while. Oh, and. I knew I was forgetting something – this post from Nethaera:
[Previous] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 [Next]We do plan to allow pets to be fed in combat at some point in a future patch. It’s in the works currently.