wow Blue Posts: 6.2.4, Hotfixes and Polls

[Valks 2,373]

Is that even more blue posts on the horizon? You bet! The blues have been busy answering questions and outlining what we should expect in 6.2.4. We've also got the most recent hotfixes to hit the live servers in 6.2.3. Check it out!

 
Our first blue post is the hotfix patch notes from 19th February concerning a small number of changes on the live servers. While they aren't the most monumental changes, it seems Challenge Modes might become slightly easier now that Ragewing in UBRS won't always hit you with his breath ability.
 

6.2.3 Hotfixes - 19th February

Bug Fixes
 
Creatures and NPCs

• Fixed an issue that could cause Mahka, a quest NPC in Southern Barrens to become unresponsive.

Raids and Dungeons

• Upper Blackrock Spire: Fixed a situation on Challenge Mode and Mythic Difficulty that could cause Ragewing the Untamed's Engulfing Fire ability to be unavoidable.

Achievements

• Lovely Luck Is On Your Side: Fixed an issue that could cause players to not correctly receive credit for completing this achievement.

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Our next blue post in an update on the 6.2.4 patch notes that were published a while ago. Many players were outraged at the fact that the naming of a new patch indicated some form of new content, but in reality there was on bullet point of Battle.net changes being introduced. Blizzard have since explained the meaning of the patch and what is going to be changed in it. 
 

6.2.4 Notes Explained

Greetings everyone,
I wanted to provide some insight into the 6.2.4 patch and hopefully, answer outstanding questions you may have regarding features and areas to test.
 
In 6.2.4 World of Warcraft will transition to a new Battle.net infrastructure. While this infrastructure change contains a multitude of backend improvements for communication between WoW and Battle.net, there are also a number of changes that will directly affect you. It is our goal to make sure these changes don’t negatively impact existing systems, and functionality remains as it was prior to this migration.
 
To help us with this task, we’d like PTR testers to focus on the following areas:

• Social features, including whispers between characters, different Blizzard games, the Battle.net app and other in-game characters.
• Realm List functionality.
• Authentication, logging in, and security features.
• Parental controls.
• 3rd party add-on functionality.
• In-game shop functionality.
• Character Boosts.
• Faction, Race, and Name changes.

Development for patch 6.2.4 is ongoing so there may be issues during testing regarding things like logging in and selecting realms. Random disconnects from Battle.net may also occur. It is important that things of this nature are reported in the forums to help ensure a resolution before 6.2.4 goes live.
I hope this provides a little more insight into what PTR testers should be on the lookout for in this patch. Thank you all for helping to make World of Warcraft an epic experience time and time again!
 
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Our last blue post of the day is a big one and it concerns the polls that Blizzard occasionally put out on the main page. While some players see this as a bit of fun to take part it, the comments are often riddled with numerous complaints stating that Blizzard are wasting their time on polls instead of working on the game itself. 
 
Personally, I see no harm in the polls. They are a bit of fun, such as with the Valentine's "best couple" poll and get users to perhaps look into parts of the game they wouldn't have before. I highly doubt doing a small poll once in a while is delaying Legion for months each time.
 
The user also states that Blizzard should use the polls as a means of feedback rather than for fun. If we use the Legion forums as evidence, people leaves walls and walls of text for feedback. A simple poll will never, ever give sufficient evidence or feedback due to the complete lack of assessment in regards to the answers given. 
 
In my opinion, keep the polls fun, leave the discussion to the forums.
 

Polls and Feedback

Polls
 
I don't understand why the blues are continually putting up these random and completely arbitrary polls that mean nothing for the well being of the game. Blizzard, why don't you look at the reaction to your game and understand the discontent that people have with it. Start by bring up some polls that narrow down what people hated about trashran and what they liked about it, that way you can use that information to improve and create new content that will actually cater to what your player base wants.
 
It's pretty obvious that garrisons worked, maybe a bit too well. They are wonderful safe havens that allow people to make gold and relax without actually having to play the game, which is kind of counter intuitive. Create a poll narrowing down what people liked about their garrisons and what they didn't like.
 
Just some odd suggestions, I expect this thread to be censored and/or moved to the garbage can, but hopefully it resonates for a second
 
Polls aren't generally meant as a means for collecting feedback. They are designed as a way to engage the community in interesting/entertaining topics. (Hopefully - At least for those who choose to take part.)Feedback occurs on these forums and in the game (among other places) and is ongoing. We read/watch/collect as we go. 
 
When we have used polls in the past for collecting information it's been done very deliberately and with much care due to the inherent pitfalls polls can present such as a smaller portion of the community taking part or undue weight being put on the results by those who did take time to vote.
 
We (in community) spend a lot of time thinking about the need to manage expectations because if we over promise we've failed to deliver. If we under promise, we're not telling people enough of the 'real' news. It's a like walking a slackline (tightrope is so yesterday). We have to maintain balance or at least try to maintain balance.
 
I would hope that the devs have better metric tools. They can put in measurements to see what we're doing and use that to see what people are actually doing. Not just complaining about
 
Yep. They do. We watch for what people are both saying and what they are actually doing in game.
 
I assume that Blizzard has some really smart people that can do amazing math with data. I guess they do more than purely look at what people do as Ashran probably would have been really highly rated based off of that metric. (For some of the expansion it was practically required, and the easiest way of getting a reward) It makes me wonder if what people spend the most time doing is related to enjoyment or reward. Eh, I know they probably have a whole team dedicated to looking at many different sets of data to try to find what is enjoyable, not just usage time.
 
We have some wicked smart people here that can drill down into the data. It's true. As with anything, the data tells a lot of the story, but not the whole story. Being able to understand "why" is also looked into which includes what people are saying. Thus why it's so important to put the two together. We have a much larger pool of information that comes from within the game and the vocal community while passionate enough to speak up, aren't the majority so we have to be careful about how we weight the types of feedback.
 
Polls as a tool can be used in many ways. For us, the larger value is more in engaging than getting wide ranging thoughts and opinions.
 
There will always those who are fine with "still working on it" and those who aren't and see it as giving something and then taking it away when it doesn't happen. It's not anyone's 'fault'. It's just human nature. It's why the study of human behavior is such a large wide-reaching field and there are so many books on just what makes people tick. But those will never encapsulate what all people want and neither can a poll.
 
*Yes, we know what you did last weekend. 

 
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