As requested we have increased the drop rate for Fragment of Val'anyr to 3x the original amount except for Yogg-Saron which was already 100%. We're not really in the habit of changing drop rates so this may still be adjusted based on feedback. Hopefully this will increase interest in Ulduar 25 man raids though it could still take a while to gather enough fragments as the default drop rate was very low to begin with.

Hello everyone!

We would like to wish you and your families a very happy holiday season.

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HOLIDAY WEB SHOP DISCOUNTS

We'll be continuing the holiday tradition of a 20% discount to everything in our web shop until 6 January. The only item excluded from this sale is Foror's Crate. The required points can be earned through voting (which helps new players find our server) or donating (which helps keep our server running).

During this time you can also claim the pet Celestial Dragon for free in the shop.

Not everyone may find this interesting but I would still like to keep you updated on what's happening in the background. First off, some important crashes have been fixed. The server was quite stable already so from now on crashes should be very rare and I will also try to fix any that still happen. We have to find out if 7+ days uptime causes any performance issues, scheduled restarts will be used where needed. Uptime can be checked at the status page or in-game with ".server info".



Speaking of performance, extra measures have been taken to block the large amount of bots that have been visiting our website. Our server can handle quite a bit so you may not notice the difference but at least this should reduce the chance of any lag spikes.



In-game, AHbot has received a partial rewrite. Most of the RNG has been removed and it now maintains a stock of each item separately. This means you never have to wait more than a minute for an item to restock and it will do so at the best possible price. How much the price changes with each trade is also different, the current maximum is 5% but it's less for high volume items.



Upcoming updates will involve changes to the Dungeon Finder queue to improve how efficiently it finds groups.

The profits made by AHbot have been reduced significantly, meaning the sale prices are closer to the buy prices. This gold sink will be adjusted further over time depending on how high the inflation is. Keep in mind that we don't have regular AH fees enabled so trades between players don't remove gold from the game.



Additionally Dungeon Finder will now strictly enforce roles to avoid some frustration since the last major rework. It will no longer accept a 2nd tank or healer to fill an incomplete group, they can choose to queue as DPS or wait longer for the next group. Also keep in mind that it's only possible to join an incomplete group if they are queued, this normally happens automatically when joining the dungeon but the hourly reset could interfere with this and require the group to queue manually.



Update: For those who have had issues donating, we have changed to a new payment company. It doesn't support as many methods but it should at least be better for credit cards. If you have issues please create a Discord ticket.

Changes resulting from last week's poll and feedback:

- 10% chance for every boss in lvl 80 heroic dungeons to drop an Emblem of Frost.

- 50% chance for every boss in lvl 80 raids to drop an Emblem of Frost (not VoA).

- Return of dungeon binds so you only get each heroic once per day.

- Dungeons can now start with 3 or 4 players if a tank and heal queued.

- Incomplete groups will queue automatically on entry for easier filling.

- Adjusted required item level for heroics, fresh 80s are grouped into the easiest heroics.



Details:

A majority voted for Emblem of Frost as motivation for doing more dungeons. The reward is less than suggested as compromise for those who voted against. We understand that we shouldn't diverge too far from the blizzlike approach while trying to find a middle ground between these two sides of our community.



The method of drop chance gives more freedom compared to having all the rewards behind the random queue. Note that these drops can also happen on your first dungeon of the day. It encourages doing optional bosses and there is less penalty for not finishing a dungeon.



Raids shouldn't be ignored and are another reason for not adding all the rewards to dungeons. Again the drop chance encourages a variety of bosses compared to weekly quests. The drop has been added to all bosses and modes from these raids: OS (only Sarth), EoE, Ony, Naxx, Uld, ToC.



Dungeon binds result in more variety as was requested. It prevents farming the most efficient heroic and can also serve as a daily emblem limit if someone has time to do all dungeons.



Doing dungeons with less players mostly benefits other time zones and lower levels, it also reduces queue times. Instead of waiting in the queue, you can already start clearing. Other players automatically get invited and teleported to you when they queue halfway the dungeon unless someone declines the popup. Note that you don't get deserter for leaving a 3 player group so you can queue again if something is too difficult. The average item level required for most heroics was increased to compensate for this extra difficulty.



All of this is still subject to change depending on future feedback, we will see how this works out.