[0:00] Hey folks, this is Kalamazi. It's been
[0:02] an interesting week in World of Warcraft
[0:04] with one of the buggiest patches we've
[0:06] seen in quite a while. The bugged bonus
[0:09] rolls are being refunded, so some
[0:11] players will end up with an extra three
[0:13] bonus rolls to use this week, which is
[0:15] causing quite the uproar in the
[0:17] community. Some classes have been
[0:19] patched back up so they can actually
[0:21] deal damage now, while others have been
[0:23] left by the wayside. There's a bit of
[0:25] déjà vu with Blizzard's response to the
[0:27] frustrating patch launch, and there are
[0:29] quite a few undocumented changes for
[0:32] 12.0.5, which may help or hinder your
[0:34] gameplay depending on what kind of
[0:36] content you like to take part in.
[0:38] There's a lot to talk about, so let's
[0:40] break it all down in this week's WoW
[0:42] news video. Now, before we jump in, be
[0:44] sure to hit up that like button and
[0:45] subscribe so you never miss another
[0:47] video.
[0:49] First things first, the bonus rolls
[0:51] problem. If you've been hiding under a
[0:53] rock or just not playing the game since
[0:55] the patch went live, you may have missed
[0:57] one of the largest bugs in 12.0.5 where
[1:00] bonus rolls were giving duplicate items.
[1:03] This was one of the major selling points
[1:05] of this new feature, no duplicate items.
[1:07] So, when you get an item, it should be
[1:09] removed from the loot table for future
[1:11] bonus rolls so you can eventually get
[1:13] whatever item you want, even if you end
[1:16] up getting every single item on a bosses
[1:18] or dungeons loot table. This bug removed
[1:21] a huge chunk of the overall value of
[1:24] bonus rolls, but thankfully it was fixed
[1:26] quite quickly.
[1:28] The problem with the fix is that it
[1:30] didn't apply to any future bonus rolls,
[1:33] so any items you had rolled on before
[1:36] the fix went live would still be in your
[1:38] potential loot pool when using future
[1:40] bonus rolls. So, the dev team went one
[1:43] step further and decided to refund every
[1:46] single bonus roll that was used before
[1:48] the fix was implemented, and these
[1:50] refunds were issued in the last couple
[1:52] of days. According to the blue post, all
[1:54] nebulous void cores that were spent
[1:56] before 8:05 p.m. PDT on Wednesday have
[2:00] been refunded and you should get an
[2:03] in-game mail explaining the situation
[2:06] and the currency should just appear back
[2:08] in your currency tab. So, all is well
[2:10] that ends well, right? Of course not.
[2:13] The bonus roll refund seems to have
[2:15] split the community even further. If you
[2:18] didn't use any bonus rolls because you
[2:20] were afraid of the bugs and getting
[2:22] duplicate items, this doesn't really
[2:24] change anything for you. But, for the
[2:26] players who spent three bonus rolls at
[2:28] the start of the patch, they're going to
[2:30] get another three more or less for free.
[2:33] That doesn't seem entirely fair when
[2:35] taken at face value, but there are
[2:37] actually quite a few variables within
[2:40] that camp to divide things up even
[2:42] further.
[2:44] The first thing to consider is that any
[2:46] items that were obtained before the fix
[2:49] will still be in the loot table. So,
[2:51] that's a future bonus roll that can be
[2:53] wasted at any time. You can head back
[2:56] into a dungeon or raid and get the exact
[2:58] same items that you spent your bugged
[3:00] bonus rolls on. In fact, we've seen
[3:02] quite a few tweets and Reddit threads
[3:04] from players who are experiencing that
[3:06] exact scenario. They got the exact same
[3:09] items in the exact same order in some
[3:12] cases as their bugged bonus rolls, which
[3:14] is a teeny bit suspicious, but in these
[3:17] cases those free bonus rolls amounted to
[3:20] no actual value.
[3:22] Now, any players who did not receive
[3:24] duplicate items from their bonus rolls
[3:26] when used early in the patch even while
[3:28] the bug was active might come out ahead
[3:30] versus the players who did receive
[3:32] duplicates because not only did they
[3:34] waste a bonus roll to get an item they
[3:36] can't use, but that item will still be
[3:39] on their potential loot table because
[3:41] that specific fix wasn't retroactive. In
[3:44] this case, you could spend three or more
[3:46] bonus rolls to get the exact same item,
[3:49] which leaves that player even further
[3:52] behind.
[3:54] But where players might gain an
[3:55] advantage is where they used their bonus
[3:57] rolls early on and got their best in
[4:00] slot items. It doesn't really matter
[4:02] that much if the loot tables didn't
[4:04] update properly if you don't have to
[4:06] roll on that boss or dungeon ever again
[4:08] because you already got the items that
[4:10] you want. In those rare cases, these
[4:13] players are one week ahead of everyone
[4:14] else in terms of bonus rolls and mythic
[4:16] track gear. And then there are also
[4:19] quite a lot of players reporting that
[4:21] they spent their bonus before the
[4:23] supposed cut-off time but haven't been
[4:25] refunded any void cores or they spent
[4:28] two or three and they've only been
[4:29] refunded one, which would leave them in
[4:31] a much worse situation when compared to
[4:34] everyone else. So if you did use your
[4:36] bonus rolls early on in the week,
[4:38] double-check to see if you actually got
[4:40] a refund or not because it seems to be
[4:42] quite unreliable right now. So it is
[4:45] still a very messy situation, which
[4:48] seems to fit quite well for patch
[4:49] 12.0.5, but I do think it's still better
[4:52] for the dev team to do something rather
[4:54] than nothing and refunding the bugged
[4:56] bonus rolls is one of the easiest ways
[4:58] to address this problem even if it does
[5:00] leave some folks quite a bit ahead of
[5:02] everyone else. I'm curious to hear what
[5:05] you think of this whole debacle. How do
[5:07] you think the dev team should have
[5:08] handled the bugged bonus rolls and is
[5:10] refunding them the best course of
[5:12] action? Let me know what you think in
[5:14] the comment section below.
[5:17] Now unfortunately, bugged bonus rolls
[5:19] are the only problem plaguing this
[5:21] patch. Havoc Demon Hunters and Shadow
[5:24] Priests ended up doing significantly
[5:26] more damage than they were supposed to
[5:28] while Unholy Death Knights were so
[5:30] broken they dropped to the very bottom
[5:32] of the DPS charts. Rogues and Warlocks
[5:35] are also suffering from quite a few
[5:36] game-breaking bugs which haven't been
[5:39] addressed from what I can tell. The
[5:41] crafting bug that would eat your crests
[5:43] without actually upgrading your item
[5:45] reared its ugly head again, which is
[5:47] definitely less than ideal. There are
[5:49] still quite a lot of bugs with the
[5:51] transmog window and system and patch
[5:53] 12.0.5 seems to have only made things
[5:55] worse. The Decurse Duel mini-game seems
[5:58] to be quite stingy with its reward
[5:59] structure, removing all rewards from
[6:02] some players if they don't participate
[6:04] enough, which is odd in a game mode
[6:06] where the goal is to hide and not be
[6:09] found. Speaking of hiding, that has been
[6:11] made quite difficult in some cases with
[6:13] most sources of human or tracking still
[6:16] working in Decurse Duels, allowing some
[6:18] players to completely bypass the whole
[6:21] hide portion of the hide-and-seek
[6:23] mini-game. The entire housing feature
[6:25] was taken offline for the start of the
[6:27] patch to address some game-breaking
[6:29] problems, which definitely doesn't look
[6:31] great all things considered. Void
[6:33] Strikes were getting stuck quite often,
[6:35] preventing completion and progression,
[6:37] and the Void Incursions were taken
[6:38] completely offline as well partway
[6:40] through the week to address some
[6:42] significant bugs. Void Assault also have
[6:45] had a bit of a problem AFK players as
[6:47] you can get full rewards from the
[6:48] Assault without contributing at all,
[6:50] which is a stark difference when
[6:52] compared to the Decurse Duels AFK issue.
[6:55] And then the last boss in the March of
[6:56] Quel'Danas raid had quite a few key bugs
[6:59] that completely halted progression on
[7:01] that boss for many guilds.
[7:04] Now, thankfully, good progress is being
[7:06] made to fix a lot of the larger
[7:08] problems. We already talked about the
[7:10] bonus roll duplicate problem being
[7:11] fixed. Unholy Death Knights have seen
[7:13] many fixes can actually do damage again.
[7:16] Housing was re-enabled quite quickly and
[7:19] there have been many other hotfixes
[7:20] since the patch went live. So, progress
[7:23] is being made, but there are quite a few
[7:25] problems remaining in the patch. And
[7:28] Blizzard is aware that patch 12.0.5 fell
[7:30] quite short of player expectations. They
[7:33] published a blue post that apologized
[7:35] for the state of the patch and it says
[7:36] they've been working around the clock to
[7:38] stabilize the game and get through the
[7:40] long list of bugs and issues that
[7:42] players are struggling with. It also
[7:44] mentions that the team is taking lessons
[7:46] learned from this launch to help ensure
[7:47] this doesn't happen again. They'll work
[7:50] harder to communicate openly, early, and
[7:52] often when a patch doesn't go as
[7:54] expected, the known issues they're
[7:56] working on, fixes as they roll out, and
[7:58] any other information that might be
[8:00] useful to the community.
[8:03] On one hand, that does seem to be the
[8:05] case. They released a long post about
[8:07] the bonus roll bug, how it happened, why
[8:10] it wasn't caught in testing, and how
[8:11] they tried to make sure this kind of
[8:13] thing doesn't happen again. That was
[8:14] quite an interesting read, but it does
[8:16] kind of emphasize that if the dev team
[8:18] doesn't test something on the PTR, they
[8:20] need to be extra careful and attentive
[8:23] with their internal testing. If bonus
[8:25] rolls were tested on the PTR, I imagine
[8:28] these problems would have been caught
[8:29] before the patch went live. But on the
[8:32] other hand, this blue post looks kind of
[8:35] familiar. Patch 11.1.5 of the War Within
[8:38] expansion also launched with quite a lot
[8:40] of issues, leading to some similar
[8:42] statements in a PC Gamer interview with
[8:44] Ian. A couple of things stand out here.
[8:47] If there's ever an update where we know
[8:49] there are serious issues, we're not
[8:51] going to push it out just because we've
[8:52] set this 8-week target. We're never
[8:54] consciously compromising quality. We are
[8:57] committed to quality, and we know that
[8:59] quantity doesn't matter if the stuff
[9:01] isn't functional, and if the game isn't
[9:03] predictable and reliable and doesn't
[9:05] feel like a polished experience. Rather
[9:07] than say we're going to slow down and
[9:09] serve our players less, we'd rather ask
[9:11] how can we polish this further? How can
[9:13] we tighten our processes so they don't
[9:15] slip through the cracks, and we are
[9:17] getting content into players' hands at a
[9:19] rate they deserve. Now, quite a lot of
[9:21] things seem to have slipped through the
[9:23] cracks for 12.0.5, which is really
[9:25] disappointing to see. Hopefully, the dev
[9:28] team makes better use of the PTR moving
[9:30] forward, and we see those lessons
[9:32] actually sink in. We love this game
[9:34] enough to make it a huge part of our
[9:36] life. We want it to be the best it can
[9:38] possibly be, and I'm sure the dev team
[9:40] feels the same. But, I do worry that the
[9:42] current patch cadence is hurting the
[9:44] game more than it's helping. I'll be
[9:46] very interested to see what changes
[9:48] going forward. Maybe patches taking a
[9:51] couple weeks longer, maybe PTR builds
[9:53] coming up earlier, or just more testing
[9:55] tools on the PTR to help players break
[9:57] the game a bit more so that the patch is
[9:59] as robust as possible when it does go
[10:02] live. I guess we'll just have to wait
[10:04] and see how 12.0.7 and 12.1 pan out, but
[10:08] I hope they're going to be extra careful
[10:10] with these next few patches.
[10:13] There are also quite a few updates in
[10:15] this patch that weren't announced
[10:16] whatsoever. If you tried to complete a
[10:18] prey hunt since the patch went live,
[10:20] you've probably noticed a huge
[10:22] difference in the number of traps you
[10:24] can find to disarm. It seems like
[10:26] they've at least halved the spawn count
[10:28] of traps, which makes completing prey
[10:30] hunts take much longer, which is
[10:32] probably the point. Completing prey
[10:34] hunts with traps was the go-to method
[10:36] for most players, and during peak hours,
[10:38] it was already pretty bad competing with
[10:40] that many players for limited traps.
[10:42] But, the changes in 12.0.5 make it
[10:44] significantly worse. I guess the dev
[10:46] team really didn't like that players
[10:48] were avoiding all other forms of
[10:50] open-world content in favor of just
[10:53] disarming traps. If you're still working
[10:55] on prey hunts, it may be worth scouting
[10:57] the entire map looking for traps instead
[11:00] of focusing on the prey world quest
[11:02] area. Traps do still spawn outside of
[11:05] that one location, and you should
[11:06] hopefully have less competition.
[11:09] Now, there are some beneficial changes
[11:11] that snuck into the patch as well, like
[11:13] the various nerfs to Dragonflight raids
[11:15] to make them much easier to solo. In the
[11:17] Vault of the Incarnates, Broodkeeper's
[11:19] damage reduction buff is capped at 25%
[11:22] so you can hold the ads on top of the
[11:24] boss, and you don't need quite as much
[11:25] burst to take her down. In Aberrus,
[11:28] Rashok's tank buster has been reduced to
[11:30] a tank tickle, and for Sarkareth, you're
[11:32] no longer sent into the other phase when
[11:34] you reach 10 stacks of oblivion. And
[11:36] then for Amirdrassil, Nymue's Doom
[11:38] Cultivation ends much faster, Laradar no
[11:41] longer casts Furious Charge, Nymue's
[11:44] Full Bloom Intermission was nerfed into
[11:46] the ground, Tindral only applies one
[11:48] seed of flame and it no longer applies a
[11:50] debuff, and then for Fyrakk, quite a few
[11:52] changes as well. All of this boils down
[11:55] to Dragonflight raids being much much
[11:57] easier to solo now. So, if you've been
[11:59] itching to work through some
[12:00] Dragonflight raids for older
[12:02] achievements, transmogs, mounts, or any
[12:04] other collectibles, you should run into
[12:06] far fewer problems if you're trying to
[12:08] clear them all by yourself. Don't forget
[12:11] that you can also now solo queue into
[12:12] every Dragonflight raid on LFR mode, so
[12:15] you can hunt down those colors and items
[12:17] as well.
[12:19] And then to round out this video, the
[12:21] Keystone Myth achievement and mount
[12:23] rewards are now available to earn and
[12:25] pick up in game. You can earn the
[12:27] achievement by getting up to 3,400
[12:29] Mythic Plus rating, and you'll get to
[12:31] choose between any of the previous
[12:33] Keystone Master or Legend mounts, as
[12:35] well as a handful of new mounts. You can
[12:37] pop by Lindormi in Silvermoon or the
[12:39] Timeways to see all of the mounts on
[12:41] offer. Unfortunately, all of the new
[12:44] options are just recolors of previous
[12:46] mount models, so there aren't any shiny
[12:48] new mounts to collect, but some of the
[12:50] recolors might be of interest to you.
[12:52] But that's all of the updates we have so
[12:54] far, so that's it for this week's WoW
[12:56] news video. What do you think of patch
[12:58] 10.0.5 from what you've played so far,
[13:01] and do you think the next few patches of
[13:03] Midnight will fare any better? Leave all
[13:05] your thoughts in the comment section
[13:06] below. A big thank you to all of our
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[13:24] up to date. Thanks for watching, folks.
[13:26] Good luck and have fun, and as always, I
[13:28] will see you next time.