MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Achievements

• Defeating Algalon should once again award the appropriate achievements.
  
• Players can now correctly earn the achievement Souls of the Lost.

Classes

• Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Outlaw
    
    • Fixed a bug that caused Greenskin's Waterlogged Wristcuffs's to be removed when Pistol Shot failed to cast.
      
  • Subtlety
    
    • Fixed a bug that prevented the gain of combo points after consuming the Regalia of the Dashing Scoundrel 4-piece set bonus.
      

Dungeons and Raids

• Blackwing Lair
  
  • Nefarian
    
    • Addressed an issue where the Drakonid would fail to spawn as expected.
      
• Ulduar
  
  • Algalon the Observer
    
    • Made many tuning adjustments to Algalon to more closely match his difficulty in 7.3.2.
      
• Temple of Ahn’Qiraj
  
  • Silithid Royalty
    
    • Fixed a bug with the bugs despawning before players were able to loot them.
      

Items

• Fixed a bug where some low level items were not able to be disenchanted or transmogrified.
  
• Fixed a bug where incorrect textures were present on the Wristclasps of Righteous Reckoning, Supreme Felchain Bracers,Bracers of Perfect Discomfort, and Terrorweave Wristwraps. This fix should provide the correct texture and restore set completion to some players.

Player versus Player

• Character item level is now set to 950 during Tournament Rules Wargames.
  
• Concordance of the Legionfall is now set to rank 20 during Tournament Rules Wargames.
  
• Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Mistweaver
    
    • The healing of Way of the Crane is properly decreased by healing reduction effects such as Dampening or Mortal Strike.
      

Quests

• Neptulon's Cache now drops the Remnant of Water for quest “Controlling the Elements”.
  
• The Duskwood quest "Cry For the Moon" should now appear on the map if it is the next quest in the zone's storyline.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)

I just logged in, and to my surprise, there is a level 90 boost on my character select screen...What is it from? Should I be worried about some sort of account compromise? I have the authenticator and everything. A few weeks ago I purchased a level 100 boost for a warlock. I looked through my transaction history, and there aren't any random purchases. Is this a bug? A random gift from Blizz?

It looks like we're running a process that is switching the level 90 boosts that used to be bound only to the WoW license to make them Blizzard Battle.net wide. So some of you likely had a level 90 boost from a secondary WoW license that is now available for use on any of your WoW licenses on that account. For those currently missing boosts, the process is still running, they should show back up. Once the process completed we'll see how everything looks.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Join us live on Twitch Tuesday, January 30, as we sit down with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas for our next live developer Q&A where he’ll be answering your World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth questions.

Feel free to submit questions by posting in this forum thread or via Twitter using the hashtag #WarcraftQA.

We’re really looking forward to getting the chance to dive in and answer as much as we can, so we hope to see you Tuesday at 21:00 CET!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Collections

• Demon Hunters can now loot companion pets from Throne of Thunder and Siege of Orgrimmar.

Dungeons and Raids

• Siege of Orgrimmar
  
  • Sha of Pride will no longer use Banishment against a solo player in Mythic difficulty.
    

Quests

• The Hyjal quest "Good News... and Bad News" can now be accepted from Matoclaw if abandoned.
  
• The Teldrassil quest "The Sprouted Fronds" will no longer appear on the map to players who cannot accept it.
  
• Players now receive Augmented Arcane Prison from Raelorasz if they’re standing more than 3 yards away from him, for “Mustering the Reds”.
  
• Reduced the difficulty of the Drakuru encounter during the Zul'Drak quest "Betrayal".
  
• Several Silithus creatures now level scale all the way down to 40 for "Vyral the Vile".
  
• When it’s “Your First Day as a Pirate”, Captain Keelhaul should no longer fall out of his pirate ship.

World

• The portals to Deepholm can now be used by level 82 players, as intended.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The development of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is well underway, and we want to share some insights into our philosophies and approach to class design for the expansion. While the launch of Legion brought lots of change to all of Warcraft’s classes, Battle for Azeroth will more closely resemble the example set by Legion’s patch content: targeted iteration based on player feedback and data.

The intro cinematic of Battle for Azeroth revealed at BlizzCon 2017 has an underlying theme that resonates deeply with the class design team: “Remember what makes us strong.” With that in mind, our goals for the next expansion are to promote what makes each class unique, focus on making group gameplay the best that it can be, and continue our efforts to improve combat visuals and effects. While we believe some specializations will need substantial iteration to achieve these goals, others will not, and our target is greater stability across the board.

Class Uniqueness and Utility
One area we’re trying to focus on across all classes is to better emphasize what makes each class unique and provide greater distinction among their various capabilities, especially when it comes to utility—tools that fall outside of core role functions like damage, healing, or mitigation. Part of what makes you feel excitement and pride in your class is pulling off a heroic moment and feeling the appreciation of your group when individually contributing to a shared success. That feeling is eroded when so many classes bring similar abilities, and you feel you’re rarely providing something distinctive. More differentiation in this area will create situations where another class can do something that you can’t, but you will similarly bring tools to the table that your allies lack.

That contrast causes members of a team to be more dependent on each other to succeed, and encourages different group compositions to approach encounters in different ways.

Pursuing this goal will likely involve adding some new abilities (or re-adding previously removed abilities) to give classes a more unique signature where needed. It will also likely involve reining in the availability of certain utility types, especially those that are so widespread that they rarely provide meaningful contrast between classes. As a notable example, Area of Effect (AoE) stuns, some of most powerful utility that exists, are so abundant that most groups have at least one or two. As a result, decision-making around that tool is often less about when it would be best used, and more about avoiding overlap with other AoE stuns. Not only does this sometimes drown out the importance of other crowd control in dungeons, but it means that a class bringing an AoE stun to a group is not the major strategy-defining asset that it should be. Our goal is that whatever powerful kind of utility a class brings, it’s something that group will be happy to have added to their toolbox as they approach a challenge.

The goal of contrast between the abilities of different specializations is not limited to utility. We’re also looking at different specializations’ strengths and weaknesses in their “main role”—damage dealing (or DPS), healing, or tanking—and making sure everyone has something to get excited about and an opportunity to shine. Some DPS specializations are “bursty,” doing fast damage; some live for attrition, wearing away their target. Some specializations prefer to isolate and drill into a single threat, while others revel in blowing up huge packs of monsters. Much of this plays out naturally due to the varying sets of damaging abilities, but we are working more intently than in the past to ensure an appropriate variety and spread of DPS strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, healers and tanks should have a bit more identity through their unique healing and mitigation profiles.

Another part of this approach involves working with our content design teams to collaborate on a world where quests, dungeons, and raids create opportunities for all different types of class strengths to shine. If we’re arming classes with distinct tools that provide powerful answers to different situations, it’s important that the game’s content provides a broad array of challenges that play into those different tools.

Talent System Refinements
The overall talent system will remain largely unchanged, but we will be refining our approach. One of the major challenges in setting up talent rows is that they serve two conflicting desires: choices within a row should be meaningfully varied, but also should not feel like they are simply a test of which is best in a particular setting.

If a row has three similar area-damage talents, your decision can feel like it boils down to a complex math problem. If a row mixes area-damage and single-target talents, you’ll likely feel you should change talents to suit the content you’re doing, which also rarely feels like a choice. The most successful talent rows are those with options that have a generally consistent role in your toolkit, but have very different delivery and mechanics, allowing players to thoughtfully customize their identity and complexity.

One other lesson we’ve already begun implementing in Legion patches is being careful with the effect that talents have on “pacing”—how frequently you get to press your buttons, and how often you generate resources and cooldowns. Of course, many talents affect the pacing of a rotation, and this will continue to be the case, as these are some of the talents with the most noticeable and fun feel to them. But if you have access to multiple talents that slow down or speed up your rotation, players can end up outside the bounds of what feels good to play (for example, by being resource starved or flooded). As we review talents going forward, we will try to avoid this by having strong resource-generating talents compete with each other, and better limiting the pacing change allowable from any single talent.

Artifacts Here and Gone
One particular challenge for the class design team throughout Legion was handling the introduction and eventual removal of Artifacts. The idea was exciting: design a large set of bonuses with the intention that they would be contained within an expansion, allowing us to make them flashier, more complex, and more numerous than we’d been able to in a specialization’s permanent set of core abilities. But the process of parting with Artifacts produces a complex set of decisions about how to adjust the base classes to play well in their absence.

The largest issue is where the pacing of a spec’s rotation was heavily affected by Artifacts. In that case, removing the Artifact may result in a rotation that’s too slow, or has too much open time where the core buttons aren’t available. In the process of reviewing and updating each specialization for Battle for Azeroth, we want to make sure all of them are paced appropriately after the removal of Artifacts. In some cases, we may do things like increase resource generation or reduce cooldowns to fill in some of the newly opened space.

For traits that go beyond simple numerical changes and have their own identity—such as active abilities or the powerful and noticeable procs—we are on the lookout across all specs for a small selection of traits that are worth turning into permanent parts of a class. The bar is high for a trait to become permanent. It’s an intended part of the experience of a system like Artifacts that the bonuses are layered on top of the core functionality of your class. You get to explore those bonuses thoroughly, but eventually move on from them. That leaves space in the permanent classes for new special bonuses from other systems in the future, as we’ll soon be exploring with Azerite Armor. That said, various specs will likely see one or two familiar traits from Artifacts showing up in their talent trees in Battle for Azeroth.

These are the broad philosophies that are guiding our design in Battle for Azeroth, and we were deliberately light on sharing specific examples of change, which are still in a state of flux at this stage. We welcome a community discussion on the principles we’ve outlined, and look forward to delving into detailed and specific changes as we move forward with our beta testing in the near future.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Achievements

• The Priority Mail achievement and Postmaster title are now account-wide.
  
• Non-Draenei characters can now complete the Bloodmyst Isle Quests achievement.
  
• Icecrown: The Final Goal now checks for the correct version of the quest "No Rest For The Wicked".

Characters

• NPCs should again make sounds when you click on them.
  
• Your character’s sounds should again be more audible than other players’ sounds, especially in dungeons and raids.

Classes

• Priest (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Strength of Soul is no longer incorrectly triggered by Power Word: Barrier
    
  
  
• Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Poison Knives again amplifies Fan of Knives as intended.
    

Class Halls

• Fixed a bug that sometimes inflated the Order Resources amount required for a mission.

Dungeons and Raids

• Addressed numerous issues with area effects misbehaving in encounters.
  
  • Developers’ notes: The underlying issue here is complex, but we believe we’ve tracked down the likely cause. Please let us know if you continue to experience issues with erroneously-triggered area effects.
    

Quests

• Lost Mail now properly spawns in a random location near one of several Dalaran mailboxes.
  
• "Korok the Colossus" can now be turned in to Deathguard Podrig in the Sepulcher if Forward Commander Onslaught has been slain.
  
• "Good News... and Bad News" can now be accepted from Matoclaw if abandoned.
  
• Players level 91 and higher can now start the questline that unlocks Jade Forest by speaking with Nazgrim (Horde) or Admiral Jes-tereth (Alliance).
  
• Boss enemies for "The Air Stands Still" have had their health reduced, and the NPCs that help you fight them have had their damage increased.
  
• The missing Slumberblooms have returned for "Slumberbloom".

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Thanks for the feedback and thoughts so far.

The Refer-A-Friend system is intended as an option for players who want to invite a friend to play WoW with them and experience the game together. When it was first introduced, we gave it a hefty bonus to experience gain as a way for both players to reach endgame content as quickly as possible.

Nowadays, purchasing the latest WoW expansion includes a free character boost, so the need to rush your friend to max level is no longer there; you can jump into the latest content with your friend right away. This meant that the only players who were using the Refer-A-Friend system in its intended way – leveling alongside their friend – were those who had decided that they wanted to experience that content together. We realized that, for those players, the 300% XP bonus was a disservice; we were cutting that shared experience short by making them finish it far too quickly.

Now, we certainly recognize that the majority of people using the Refer-A-Friend system before these changes were doing so in order to level alts quickly. If anything, we take that as a strong indication that the system needed to change: the best method to level a character in WoW shouldn’t be “buy a new copy of the game, put it on a separate account, send it a Refer-A-Friend invite, level a new character, and then transfer that character to your primary account when you’re finished.” That’s messy, at best.

That said, we’re certainly taking the feedback about the rate of leveling alts into account as we move forward with the game’s development. We’ve been happy with the changes so far, but if leveling is too slow, we’d rather address that in the game itself than have Refer-A-Friend be some kind of bizarre workaround to an outstanding issue.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Can you even dunk? If you want to win this brawl, you’re going to need to work on your skills because Dunkball has come to Pandaria. You’ll race to claim balls from the map’s center, or northern, or southern mines, take them to your enemy’s base, and then go for a magnificent long range shot or go all in for the dunk.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Achievements

• The consolidated Algalon achievement Observed should now properly grant both the “Starcaller” and “Astral Walker” titles.

Characters

• Addressed a graphical error with characters who have markings such as tattoos.
  
• Uuna will now react to her surroundings when taken to Suramar, for both Horde and Alliance characters.

Classes

• Demon Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Fixed an issue where Fel Eruption would not deal damage to stun-immune targets.
    
  • Rage of the Illidari again correctly deals damage.
    
  
  
• Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Frost Mages can again obtain their Frostfire Remembrance artifact appearance.
    
  
  
• Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Artifact traits and other effects that increase all of your healing correctly benefit Healing Stream Totem and Healing Tide Totem.
    
  
  
• Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Haunt will no longer incorrectly reset its cooldown when used against certain creatures with scaling health.
    
  
  
• Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Warriors who have completed two Artifact acquisitions from starting “One More Legend” to obtain their third Artifact.
    

Dungeons and Raids

• Deepholm
  
  • Fixed a bug where Aeonaxx would fail to drop loot.
    
• Return to Karazhan
  
  • Attumen should once again properly respect tank threat for his Mounted Strike and Stamp attacks while astride Midnight.
    
• Shadowfang Keep
  
  • Some enemies will now properly benefit from damage scaling when attacked by high-level players, in Normal difficulty.
    
• Vault of the Wardens
  
  • Fel Furies that spawn in the Mythic Tirathon Saltheril encounter will no longer evade.
    

Mounts and Pets

• Fixed a bug that caused custom pet names to sometimes partially disappear.
  
• Mailing the Vicious War Fox will no longer cause it to become the other faction's War Fox.

Professions

• Skinning
  
  • Noxious Whelps can again be skinned for Green Whelp Scales.
    

Quests

• The Dragonblight quest "An End and a Beginning" can now be completed normally.
  
• The Huge Boulder for the Redridge quest "Saving Foreman Oslow" has been returned.

January 19 - Build 28675

Bugfixes

• Addressed tuning issues with enemy health in leveling content.
  
• Fixed framerate and client performance issues on mid- and lower-capacity hardware, especially when coupled with the use of certain addons.
  
• Fixed an Archaeology bug preventing players from being able to survey in appropriate locations.
  
• Restored a large number of missing transmogrification items to Collections.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

In Patch 7.3.5, we made significant changes to the level 1–100 experience to ensure players can better enjoy the stories, quest lines, and zones they want to at their own pace. Because of this, we are adjusting the XP bonus on the Recruit-A-Friend (RAF) program to ensure it reflects the updated pacing of the game as new players level their characters and explore Azeroth.

Dynamic Leveling in Patch 7.3.5
As you may have heard, Patch 7.3.5 significantly overhauled the level-up experience in World of Warcraft so that zones from 1–100 will dynamically scale to your character’s level. Why? Over the years, we’ve made multiple changes to adjust the leveling curve—and as a result, the pace of characters’ progress has become significantly out of sync with the content. Players often out-level areas long before they’ve had a chance to complete key stories and quest lines, leading to a less-than-ideal experience.

With this significant update to pacing, the existing Recruit-A-Friend program would no longer provide the best experience for players new to World of Warcraft. Even with scaling zones, triple-speed leveling would mean new players going into dungeons could find themselves overwhelmed by multiple new abilities gained over the course of a single instance run, and might still outpace storylines that help the world make sense and make players feel like they’re part of it—and we want new players to feel at home in Azeroth.

To align the Recruit-A-Friend XP bonus with the upcoming leveling changes, we have reduced the XP boost gained from the Recruit-A-Friend program when playing with a linked friend down from 200% (300% XP vs. base XP) to 50%* (150% XP vs. base XP). We are making these changes to ensure the XP boost doesn’t upset game balance and undermine the experience, while still giving a significant XP bonus to you and a friend as a thank-you for being part of the Recruit-A-Friend program.

Recruit-A-Friend Changes in Full

• The XP boost has been reduced from 200% bonus to 50% bonus*, effective today, January 22, 2018.
  
• If you’re already actively participating in the program, fear not! If you either sent or received an invite before the change went into effect today, once the invite is accepted you and your friend will still receive triple XP* (200% XP bonus) until the link between your accounts expires (90 days from the date the new recruit’s account was first created). Please note: RAF invites expire after seven days.
  
• Heirloom gear XP bonuses will no longer stack with the RAF boost (i.e., the maximum XP boost you will see from today onwards is 50%). If you were already on the program, Heirloom gear will still stack.
  
• All other rewards are unchanged and yours to enjoy:
  
  • Summon your friend once every 30 minutes.
    
  • 10% bonus reputation from kills that grant reputation.*
    
  • Level granting: for every two levels your friend gains while the accounts are linked, they can grant one level to one of your characters.
    
  • Recruiter rewards, including game time and epic mounts.
    

*For a full list of the rewards and the in-game criteria for receiving them, visit our RAF In-Game Bonuses page.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

*1/21- The Call of the Scarab Micro-Holiday is now live. Players who have completed Antorus, the Burning Throne and who are in a different phase can speak to Rhonormu near the gong to enter the correct event phase.

On January 23, 2006, a bloody war was triggered by a simple sound: the banging of a gong. No rallying fanfare, no bloodthirsty yell; just an eerie silence. Those long, uneasy seconds of dread. The calm before the storm.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder before the Scarab Wall, no one could have predicted what would happen—an epic ten-hour battle that claimed the lives of thousands of Azeroth’s bravest—or fully comprehended the effect it would have.

Action First, Faction Second
That’s not to say the battle at the gates of Ahn’Qiraj came as a surprise. When the menace of C’Thun turned into an urgent threat, leaders across the world pored over plans and forged unlikely connections as pressure mounted. Both factions knew war was coming and personal glory was a hubris no-one could risk. Any notion that one army could defeat General Rajaxx and his colossal battalion was soon abandoned as fantasy.

It was a unique time: scattered armies with varying allegiances were thrown together and faction pride was put aside. Let’s be clear: the battle at Ahn’Qiraj was won purely on the principle “united we stand, divided we fall.”

Warmongering vs. Gold Hungering
This uneasy alliance was not without its critics. Some showed their disapproval by shunning the war effort altogether, but others expressed opposition through acts of aggression. Rogue elements on both sides, unwilling to stomach this perceived betrayal of their faction, did not sit idle. Just as neutral auction houses became a tool for factions to share resources, they also became virtual battlegrounds. Crucial resources were picked up for next-to-nothing and sold on for personal gain. As with all wars, those who profit aren’t always the brave.

The sheer scale of that war effort is almost unimaginable when we live in a time of extended storage and fast mail. But back then, backpacks and cloth stacks were smaller. Getting precious resources gathered, sorted, and sent took many hours. And it took several weeks to source bandages, food, and equipment—resources that were in high demand and would soon dwindle.

The Importance of Remembrance
There are parallels with current events that are impossible to ignore: once more, we Azerothians stand united against the Burning Legion as they wreak havoc across the Broken Isles. We attempt to put aside a complex, bitter history in order to defeat a common enemy. We eye each other suspiciously, even as we fight side by side.

We would do well, in these dark times, to remember the courage and spirit of those who were there at the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj. We must have long memories if we’re to make quick work of the demon forces we now face.

From January 21–23 we ask that you join us as we remember the fallen and celebrate the victory. All of Azeroth are invited to a special holiday, ‘Call of the Scarab,’ where we will gather to perform acts of remembrance and share our factions’ pride.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

We will be performing scheduled maintenance beginning on Friday, January 19th, 7:00 AM (PST) and we expect the service to be available again at approximately 3:00 PM (PST). During this time the game will be unavailable for play.

We will be performing scheduled maintenance beginning on Saturday, January 20th, 02:00 AM (CET) and we expect the service to be available again at approximately 10:00 (CET). During this time the game will be unavailable for play.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Classes

• Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Assassination
    
    • The Poison Knives trait has been temporarily disabled, and Poison Knives currently adds 3% damage to Deadly Poison per rank. This change will be reverted once a bug with the trait is corrected.
      
  
  
• Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Restoration
    
    • Healing Tide Totem is now properly affected by Deep Healing and Cumulative Upkeep.
      
    • Healing Stream Totem is now properly affected by Deep Healing.
      
  
  
• Warlock (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator / Artifact Calculator / PvP Talent Calculator)
  
  • Affliction
    
    • Grim Inquisitor’s Regalia 2-piece set bonus now properly increases the duration of Unstable Affliction by 2 seconds.
      

Dungeons and Raids

• Gnomeregan
  
  • Electrocutioner 6000 again drops Electrocutioner Leg for Hunters.
    
• Trial of the Champion
  
  • All bosses again properly drop Champion's Seals.
    

Items

• Many quest items that had incorrectly high level requirements have been adjusted.

World Quests

• Fixed issues preventing Naz'ak and Ana-Mouz from dropping loot for players who have previously killed them.

Quests

• Significantly increased the Spinal Dust drop rate on the Ghostlands quest “Spinal Dust”.
  
• Arluin has returned to Suramar and is again willing to speak with outsiders. He was just having a bad day.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Older Boss Raid Difficulty with 7.3.5 Scaling
As many players have noticed, changes to how creature health is determined in Patch 7.3.5 had a meaningful impact on some older raid content. This has been particularly noticeable in Warlords of Draenor and Mists of Pandaria raids. We’ve been discussing this topic constantly since the first threads popped up after the patch.

We want to be clear: our intention was never to greatly increase the difficulty of soloing old raid content for transmog or mount runs, but a side effect of the creature health tuning we did for leveling players. We’re currently working on a fix that will significantly reduce the health of Warlords and Mists raid bosses.

Thank you for all of your feedback and discussion on this issue. We’re sorry for the frustration, and we’re working to have you all back in there beating down those old raid bosses as soon as possible (hopefully before the weekend).

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

drop rate for Uuna needs to be buffed! i want to get in on the secret findings!
Good news! A hotfix has been deployed that significantly increases the drop rate of Uunas Doll. Join the secret hunt to save Uuna! (Muffinus)

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)

With the release of Patch 7.3.5, we’ve had to disable the web and mobile versions of the Auction House, including the Auction House API used by certain third-party sites and addons.

We’re working to re-enable it as quickly as possible.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

We've identified the issue that caused some transmog appearances—such as the unique shoulders obtained from Xavius and Garrosh—to be removed from players’ collections. We have a pending resolution that will restore these appearances automatically. (WarcraftDevs)

The Assassination Rogue trait "Poison Knives" was disabled last night after discovering an issue that caused it to deal more damage than intended. We're working to resolve this issue and re-enable the trait as soon as possible. (WarcraftDevs)

We are continuing to investigate issues with performance in raids and are working to isolate and address them as quickly as possible. This is a top priority for us. (WarcraftDevs)

We have noticed a spike of interest in our SMS Protect and Authenticator services due to our offer of 4 extra bag slots for participating players. Please note that it may take up to 30 minutes for the bag slots to unlock after these security features are added to your account, and that it may be necessary to log out and back in once this time has passed. (Support)

Mimron's Head
Looks like this is just a visual bug with the dungeon journal. Mimiron's Head can still drop from Yogg with no keepers assisting you!

Lich King Encounter
Looks like this one is already identified and the team is working on it! No ETA currently. (Official Forums)

Achievement Points Missing
Some players may have noticed a drop in achievement points after patch 7.3.5. This is not considered a bug, several achievements associated with Ulduar have been converted into Legacy, which no longer count for progress.

Originally Posted by Overwatch League (Blue Tracker)

OVERWATCH LEAGUE™ OPENING WEEK DRAWS MORE THAN 10 MILLION VIEWERS

Newly announced Twitch distribution deal drives an average audience per minute of 408,000 for the opening day broadcast
IRVINE, Calif.—January 17, 2018—The Overwatch League roared to life last week at the Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, with four days of intense competition between all 12 teams of the world’s first major global city-based professional esports league.

Buoyed by a newly announced two-year deal with Twitch, the Overwatch League’s exclusive worldwide[1] third-party digital broadcast partner, opening day drew an impressive average audience per minute of 408,000, and 280,000 for the week. More than 10 million viewers tuned in over the four-day period via Twitch, MLG, and Chinese streaming partners ZhanQi TV, NetEase CC, and Panda TV—not to mention the countless additional viewers at watch parties worldwide. On Twitch and MLG alone, the peak concurrent online audience of 437,000 hit during the highly anticipated day-one matchup between Dallas Fuel and Seoul Dynasty. In addition, tickets to Blizzard Arena Los Angeles were sold out for the entirety of opening week.

“We’re thrilled by the overwhelming response to the Overwatch League’s opening week of play,” said Pete Vlastelica, president and CEO of Major League Gaming (MLG). “But this is only the beginning. With more than 35 million Overwatch® players, the Overwatch League has the potential to become one of the most-watched leagues—of any kind—in the world.”

“Since we announced Overwatch League at BlizzCon 2016, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the day when the global competitive Overwatch community could come together under one banner,” said Nate Nanzer, Overwatch League commissioner. “Opening week was that coming-out party—for the fans, both in-person at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles and tuned in by the millions all over the world, and for the players, whose love for the game came through crystal clear.”

“We had high expectations for the inaugural broadcast of the Overwatch League on Twitch, given our platform’s passionate fanbase for Overwatch," said Kevin Lin, COO of Twitch. "They really put on an amazing show and fans showed up en masse to support and celebrate Overwatch. Based on the response from the community, Overwatch League is off to a great start and we look forward to watching how the season progresses. This league demonstrates the power and potential of esports, and we’re thrilled to continue expanding our partnership with Blizzard.”

Viewers can tune in to catch all the action on Twitch, www.mlg.com, the MLG app (on iOS and Android), www.overwatchleague.com, and the Overwatch League app, which launched last week for iOS and Android. Blizzard gamers also can get easy access to the Overwatch League via a new Overwatch League tab in the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app.

The first season of the Overwatch League runs until June, with playoffs and finals scheduled for July. For the inaugural season, all regular-season games will take place at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, a state-of-the-art live-event venue in Burbank, California, custom-renovated for Blizzard Entertainment esports events. Fans can purchase tickets to attend matches, which will be played each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. A full schedule and information about ticket sales can be found at www.overwatchleague.com.

About the Overwatch League™

The Overwatch League™ is the first major global professional esports league with city-based teams across Asia, Europe, and North America. Overwatch® was created by globally acclaimed publisher Blizzard Entertainment (a division of Activision Blizzard—Nasdaq: ATVI), whose iconic franchises have helped lay the foundations and push the boundaries of professional esports over the last 15 years. The latest addition to Blizzard’s stable of twenty-one #1 games,[2] Overwatch was built from the ground up for online competition, with memorable characters and fast-paced action designed for the most engaging gameplay and spectator experiences. To learn more about the Overwatch League, visit www.overwatchleague.com.

© 2018 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. OVERWATCH, OVERWATCH LEAGUE, BLIZZARD and BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING is a trademark of Major League Gaming Corp.

[1] Not including China.

[2] Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

We take account security seriously, and we know you do, too. So, when you add Blizzard SMS Protect to your account along with either the Blizzard Authenticator (physical or mobile app), you’ll gain four extra bag slots—account-wide—in each character’s main backpack. You’ll be able to hold a little more stuff as you adventure through Azeroth, and keep that stuff safer from scoundrels and thieves.


What Is Blizzard SMS Protect?
Blizzard SMS Protect lets you perform certain account actions from your mobile phone (such as removing your Authenticator), and can be set up to provide you with account activity notifications. All you need is a supported text-enabled cell phone to get started.

What can SMS Protect do for you?

• Unlock your Blizzard account
  
• Remove a damaged or lost Blizzard Authenticator
  
• Recover your account name
  
• Reset your password

In addition, you can turn on alerts to have text messages sent directly to your phone notifying you of certain kinds of account activity, like password changes and security feature additions or removals.

These text messages are an easy way to help protect your account from unauthorized access and changes.

Remember, you can further safeguard your account by never sharing your password, using unique passwords on each site you visit, and staying aware of potential email and phishing scams.

For more information on Blizzard SMS Protect and a link to set it up, visit the FAQ.

Learn more about what you can do to help safeguard your account by reviewing our security checklist.

Where Can I Get the Blizzard Authenticator?
Don’t have an Authenticator on your account? Download the free Blizzard Authenticator mobile app for iOS or Android, or purchase a physical Blizzard Authenticator from the Blizzard Gear Store. Visit the Blizzard Authenticator article for more information, or head to the setup page to get started after you’ve downloaded the app.

As an additional bonus, when you add an Authenticator to your account, you’ll find the always feisty and fiery Core Hound Pup in-game pet waiting for you.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

An extra weekly quest and rewards are here— the Pet Battles bonus event is underway!

This Week
All week, get out there and fight with your mighty minions. When the time comes to take on other players, open your Pet Journal and hit the “Find Battle” button to be matched up with an opponent whose team is competitive with yours.

Look for the following all week long:

• Archmage Timear near Violet Hold in Dalaran has a quest for you.
  
  • Quest requirement: Win 5 pet battles versus other players with a team of three level-25 pets.
    
  • Reward: One Ultimate Battle-Training Stone.
    
• Passive bonus: All Pet Battle experience gains are increased by +200%.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

A long-forgotten evil has awakened once more. Travel back in time with 10-30 other adventurers to cleanse Ulduar of Yogg-Saron’s evil influence. While you journey through this memorable Wrath of the Lich King raid, your character will be scaled to player level 80.

Your fate is sealed. The end of days is finally upon you and ALL who inhabit this miserable little seedling. Uulwi ifis halahs gag erh'ongg w'ssh.

Originally Posted by MMO-Champion

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Patch 7.3.5 Coming January 16
Patch 7.3.5 is coming January 16, and adds several new features and updates, including Ulduar Timewalking; the revamped leveling experience featuring scaling zones throughout Azeroth, Outland, and Draenor; and more. Players who have completed the Antorus, the Burning Throne raid can continue the story beyond the events on Argus and experience the tumultuous aftermath on Azeroth with a new quest line. Read the complete patch notes to learn more.

Before you hop into the game, make sure you’ve secured your account with the Blizzard Authenticator or Blizzard Mobile Authenticator, along with Blizzard SMS Protect. You’ll unlock an additional four backpack slots for each character on your account once you’ve secured it with both.