Orange County Register

No blue posts this weekend in the class forums, while much of the feedback directed at the beta has moved over to the class roles forums. I’m generally in support of this; hyper-specific questions, like “how many combo points should go into a slice ‘n’ dice” don’t really need blue feedback.

I am a little worried by two things, though.

First, a lack of judicious pruning (i.e., moderation) could help elevate a lot of the discussion on the class roles forums. There’s typically several questions repeated on the front page; handfuls of less-than-intelligent posts are always managing to sneak through and stick. (I’m thinking of posts, like the one called “i hate flash of light,” that feature about 200 lower-case letters shot through with random punctuation.) Other Web sites are far more draconian; some publicly mock people for daring to ask a question answered in the F.A.Q. However, most people go to those same sites because they’re not cluttered with “QQ moar” and “class xx is broken” posts. A little bit of censorship (gasp, I know, a journalist saying that) would go a long way toward elevating the tone of the official forums.

Second, the total lack of developer posts in class forums serves to foster a sense that some classes or in-game tactics are more favored over another; I think moderation, the consolidation of bug reports and regularly checked blue-sponsored feedback posts would really help provide a sense that players were being heard. This is important simply because it heads off a lot of the pointlessness that crops up in the class forums.

Essentially, while the official forums don’t need to be excruciatingly detailed min-max number crunching exercises, they have a huge advantage in having the blue posts. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be a little more accessible.

Anyway, on to the posts:

First off, a non-gameplay bit from Eyonix: the time a new server will remain closed to paid character transfers will be extended from three to six months.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10021036&sid=1

Some good news for druids in the damage-dealing forums: Savage Roar will persist through shapechanges. Still no news on when feral will pay less mana for those changes, though.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12890943805&sid=1

And exact details on the bonus armor changes for druids, from the tanking forums. It’s a long post, but essentially boils down to a few points: armor was too good for bears; the changes will streamline (and even buff) druid tank progression up to 25-man Naxx content; the maximum attainable armor value in the game will drop almost 4,000; and there still may be a statistic or itemization problem, but Blizzard doesn’t think it’ll show up with current content.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12891372479&sid=1

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