OwnedCore Report #36

**Kenneth** · 08-26-2018

Hey! Welcome to the Report. This is our 36th addition to the OwnedCore Report. This week was filled with a ton of stuff including the Dota 2 TI, Azshara Warbringer, a Q&A for WoW, and more. On top of all this news we have a very in depth with one of OwnedCore's brightest, Smitten. Smitten has been a huge part of the OC community for many years and was actually the head of the news team at one point. I picked her brain about BFA mostly and it came out really well.

Lastly I just wanted to acknowledge the shooting in Jacksonville, Florida today. This report is strictly about everything here on OC and gaming news but for the first time ever an eSport event was the victim of a mass shooting leaving multiple dead so ignoring that as a gaming platform wouldn't be right. It was a Madden 19 tournament held in the back of a pizzeria and it left 3 dead, including the shooter, and multiple injured. Definitely a dark day for everybody who labels themselves a gamer and probably a turning point in eSport security for all LAN's in the future both big and small. May the victims rest in peace and hopefully this never happens again.

Community Interview with Smitten

This week we have a great community interview with Smitten. Hope you enjoy!

Q: How are you enjoying BFA so far?

A: The questing experience was one of the best I've seen in WoW so far, so I can't argue on that front. Drustvar was my favourite zone Alliance side, while Nazmir was my favourite Horde side. Being able to see the different zones from each faction's point of view is cool. As for content, the dungeons are firmly in the "alright" category. The real test for long term enjoyment will come when raids, Mythic+ and the PvP season begin.

Q: The launch was terrible and there were tons of bugs but besides all of this does BFA look like its going to be a success in the long run? Why or why not

A: I think BFA has long term potential if they follow the fairly successful Legion model of regular content releases, including Dungeons, new zones (more Timeless Isle like, less Broken Shore preferably), and world events such as the Invasions/Portals. Considering that BFA is almost Legion 2 with a different theme when it comes to gameplay systems, it will work if they don't make the same mistakes they made in Legion.

Following through with a forgiving Heart of Azeroth AP catch up system is a must, since I know very few people who enjoy the grind, while trying to minimise the need for PvE gear to be the best in PvP is incredibly important for the PvP scene with the removal of stat templates once again.

Q: Have you played any Island Expeditions? If so what are your thoughts?

A: I've played a few on all difficulties, including the PvP mode. The AI is fun, but PvE mode got boring very quickly. It's either too easy or too repetitive. PvP mode is fun against a competent opponent, but overall I wish they had better rewards. The transmogs, mounts and pets they drop are too infrequent, while the AP they reward is absolutely insignificant after the weekly quest. Despite WoW's Dev team saying the contrary, for the majority of people who want to farm AP but don't care to be 100% optimised, Island Expeditions are not the way to do it. WQs + premade Heroic farming is the way to go, as they have the added bonus of reliably giving items to get gold with as well. I think they need to look at increasing both the AP reward for PvP & Mythic mode, as well as increasing the drop rates on the vanity items for it to be a more worthwhile experience. Improvements to the AI wouldn't hurt either.

Q: I read from a tweet by Towelliee that Blizzard plans on making them eSports similar to the M+ invitational. Do you think the way they are currently structured would be a good idea for an esport?

A: AoEing a bunch of mobs and opening chests doesn't make for very entertaining viewing in my opinion. Doing it in PvP mode could possibly work. Whether it would be dominated by PvP or PvE players is interesting to think about, with my vote going to PvP players having the edge. If it was two teams in a race in PvE mode, absolutely not. It simply isn't that enjoyable to participate in, let alone watch other people participate in.

Q: If you could change 1 major thing about BFA, whether it be adding something back, canning something, or whatever it may be, what would it be and why?

A: Being able to bake Warmode talents into PvE rotations. There are so many great abilities that have a much more profound impact on gameplay and rotation than any talents do, and that's a great thing. There's quite a lot of specs that suffer from overly bland gameplay and mechanics, yet turn into very fun and engaging specs with certain warmode talents.

Q: Speaking of cool spells being unusable. What are your thoughts on class design this expansion? More specifically how they didn't add talent rows but also got rid of old spells to bake in some of our old legendaries instead of having both.

A: I think the reasoning Blizzard had was reasonable, but the execution was very poor for some specs. Where classes like Warlock received another complete overhaul, and specs such as Fury Warriors and Balance Druids had some major mechanical changes to the way they worked to accommodate the loss of artifacts and GCD changes, some classes and specs weren't so lucky - mine included.

Elemental and Enhancement Shamans, Shadow Priests, Arcane Mages and others have been left in a limbo state where they feel mechanically incomplete. Blizzard has even admitted this, saying some specs could not be finished in time for launch and wouldn't be "finished" until Patch 8.1 or so.

Despite the fact many issues have been brought up consistently since BFA Alpha, Blizzard took the usual route of not worrying about Class feedback right until the end of the Beta period, insisting that unseen mechanics (at the time) would solve all the issues. As predicted, it's not the case. Even something as simple as adding three of the most popular Legendary or Artifact traits as each spec's 120 talent row could have gone a long way.

Blizzard has dropped the ball on the execution of class design, leaving many classes feeling like a shell of their former selves even if they perform well, while leaving some mechanically clunky, unenjoyable and underperforming at the same time.

Q: In my last interview I talked to Archvaldor and he was saying so much is broke that it has him concerned for WoW's future. Do you agree or have any thoughts on that?

A: It's hard not to agree when even Blizzard has acknowledged it to an extent. They've admitted it's a challenge to keep 14 years of legacy content working with each new system updated, removed or changed. Anyone playing PTR or Beta for BFA saw the effects that their new automated stat squish had when combined with their scaling tech. One shotting people with various Toys. Low levels dominating WPvP. Items scaled incorrectly, and even providing totally incorrect effects.

The more complex the game becomes, the more can and will go wrong, just like any project. I think that's also why Blizzard is moving to their gameplay systems that are compartmentalised into certain expansions - Artifacts in Legion that are removed at the end of Legion. Azerite Traits in BFA that will be removed at the end of BFA. Whatever comes next that will be removed at the end of whatever comes next. That may solve that issue, but as long as they have stat squishes to do, new Classes and spells to add, new gameplay systems to add, new ways to join and group realms or anything else, more will break. More exploits will come.

Whether that will have any impact on the long term health of the game, I have no idea. So few (relatively speaking) people play, take part in or notice what breaks unless it affects immediate, max level end game content. Blizzard fixes those fast as seen by the almost daily hotfixes for BFA content. There's still plenty of reported bugs for old Legacy content that remain untouched, and will likely remain untouched for a long time to come.

Q: In the most recent Q&A they said they will not be changing the whole mob scale with gear thing as a whole. What is your take on mob scaling with ilvl as a whole and do you think it is good for the progression of the game outsides of instanced pvp/pve?

A: It is good for the health of the game mechanically? Yes. Do I enjoy it? No. Nobody likes getting more powerful numerically but feeling the same as they did weeks ago. When you had your full Tier 6, or Tier 10, or Tier 13 and so on, you could pull half a zone and AoE it. You felt powerful. You killed Illidan and KJ, you killed the Lich King, you killed Deathwing. These mobs mean nothing to you. Why should they pose a threat to you?

Scaling is required to a certain point to make WQs "rewards" make sense (but that's a totally different complaint). It doesn't mean people like it, as evidenced by the constant backlash against it.

Q: Master loot or personal loot?

A: Master loot. Even gearing in these last two weeks in Mythics, getting an item which is a +5 item level upgrade with poor stats felt bad, since I would have much rather given it to a Guildie for whom it's a +15 item level upgrade with ideal stats. But no. Blizzard doesn't like that now, because people loot funneling cuts down on time spent interacting with the game, and engagement metrics are important to shareholders.

Q: Do you have any theories about the lore in WoW right now? I know people were pretty let down with Sylvannas burning the tree but I still have heard some theories being tossed around. Such as Anduin being Arthas' c

A: In terms of the greater scope of WoW lore, it's clear it'll almost certainly be be an Old God expansion coming up next. Everything has pointed to it. Blizzard are positioning existing characters and creating new characters in scenarios to set them up for their downfall or moment of glory to defeat the big bad at the end. As for Anduin, I doubt he's Arthas' child. I think he is Arthas' parallel in the sense that he's everything Arthas was meant to be. Blizzard has shown this deliberately numerous times, most notably the Lordaeron cutscene. Anduin is what Arthas could have been if he stayed true to his original path.

Q: I totally agree that next expansion will be like full on Old Gods. Do you think we will be killing Azshara this expansion or is she too powerful to die this expansion?

A: Who knows with Blizzard! They are big fans of the "dead, but only until I'm back" deal when it comes to major NPCs.

Q: What do you think we can expect at this years Blizzcon? What are you specifically hoping for the most?

A: It's way too early for a look at the next expansion, so news on upcoming major patch(es) and likely more news about Classic WoW, potentially with a release date (15th year Anniversary anyone?). More news on Diablo for Switch, likely some major Overwatch news since Blizzard is overdue for that. Does anyone even care about Starcraft anymore at Blizzard? Possibly news on the result of why there's been so much work being put into WCIII. But the most exciting part is definitely potential news about Classic WoW. It's clearly the most hyped thing surrounding Blizzard's known developments at the moment.

Q: I am surprised you don't think there will be more for Diablo. Do you not think we will see a Diablo 4 teaser or something along those lines?

A: It's always a possibility. Porting Diablo 3 to Switch could be looked at two ways - are they porting it to see how well Diablo as a game type work on Switch before they put resources into porting any potential upcoming Diablo 4 onto it, or are they porting it to Switch because they have no plans for Diablo 4 and want to make some more money off the franchise with what they have?

Q: Is there any non Blizzard game that has gotten your attention recently?

A: Doom Eternal. My long time favourite FPS franchise needs its next installment, even if we know next to nothing about it. My collection of Doom memorabilia needs more objects to join its collection, and I need more demons to slay!

Q: Do you have any wishes for next expansion as far as race or class additions? Tinker perhaps?

A: Blizzard seems to be quite fond of their new Allied Race addition, so I suspect there'll be more of those that are locked behind rep or achievement grind gates. If they add a new class, I'm not sure what it would or could be. A mail, or ranged DPS class would be nice. We haven't had a new one ever. If Tinker could be worked into Mail and have a ranged spec, I'd be all for it. As long as it's not another Melee DPS with tank spec. We've had enough of those.

Community Highlights

How to get EXALTED with every BFA faction AND most likely get banned by Mollyy.

To go to the thread click HERE

Need a Portable Scrapper wherever you go? Herlkern has you covered big time.

To go to the thread click HERE

Have you ever wanted a horse army? Say no more. Deathcdt has found a way to make your dreams come true.

To go to the thread click HERE

Gaming News from Around the Globe

Dota 2 TI 8

This last weekend finished off the 8th TI for Dota 2. The crowd funded prize pool of $25.4 million was the biggest to date. The winning team, OG, walked away with $11 million and change. The cool thing about OG winning was that they were not even supposed to make it into TI. The team had a ton of their top players leave and left the rest stranded. From there OG had to rebuild with at the time were players who were not wanted by anybody else. Against all odds they made it to the TI and won it by never losing a series. Also everybody who attended will get a copy of the upcoming card game Artifact and access to the beta.

Warbringer: Azshara

Spoilers: This is the 3rd and final installment of the Warbringer videos. In this video we get to see Azshara's beginnings and how she became the Queen of the Naga through the power of N'Zoth. Outside of her transformation we got to see a sneak peak of the Black Empire which was very similar to how it looks in the Chronicles book. All in all this was definitely one of Blizzards best additions to the Warbringer series and the WoW lore is just getting better and better.

WoW Q&A Highlights

Last week was the WoW Q&A and we got some interesting news and they addressed some of the harder hitting questions. So for starters Azerite Gear will be tradeable next reset. They admit this was a mistake and that being tradeable was the way to go. Great for people with tons of multiples in their bags. Next they said they are fixing the pvp scaling for people below 120. This is huge because for awhile 110s were smoking 120s easily. Lastly they are making it so depositing single stacks of gathering goods in the AH will cost more to deposit. This came out of the blue but hopefully that is impactful. They also talked about the mob scaling with ilvl thing and the summary of that is, its here to stay.

Waist of Time Belt

So this is a part of the puzzle stuff Blizzard has been incorporating into WoW. But this one got a lot of attention because it was such a hard and tedious find and people couldn't believe it was done legit or not. It turns out a lot of it surprisingly was done legit by the Secret Finding Discord according to the people who were there. At the same time a lot of people are saying they narrowed down a lot of the answers they had to locations via brute forcing caches through the WoWHead Client. How big of an impact this brute forcing had depends on who you ask but to me it is enough that a puzzle like this. Do you guys think this would have been obtainable without brute forcing?

If you want to get the belt yourself there is a good Youtube video of it here.

**Nyarly** · 08-27-2018

Waoh, Smitten does speak a lot. (but it's cool to have big interviews)

Also, Staats was interviewed this week : An interview with former WoW level designer, John Staats [Classic World of Warcraft] - YouTube

**Kenneth** · 08-27-2018

Originally Posted by Nyarly

Waoh, Smitten does speak a lot. (but it's cool to have big interviews)

Also, Staats was interviewed this week : An interview with former WoW level designer, John Staats [Classic World of Warcraft] - YouTube

oh thanks for the tip on that vid. Never would've seen this prob. Gonna watch and include it in next weeks for sure. I remember this guy and the diary awhile back so definitely intrigued.

**Nyarly** · 08-27-2018

Originally Posted by Kenneth

oh thanks for the tip on that vid. Never would've seen this prob. Gonna watch and include it in next weeks for sure. I remember this guy and the diary awhile back so definitely intrigued.

In case you're interested, his kickstarter restarts tomorrow : The World of Warcraft Diary (Canceled) by John Staats —
Kickstarter