Slorkuz (Link)

In patch 3.3.5, we will be introducing our new Battle.net system, which opens up new communication options for World of Warcraft players and lays the groundwork for integration with future Blizzard games, such as StarCraft II. In order to ensure that the implementation of this major new system goes as smoothly as possible, we plan to release the patch to North American realms first, with Europe, Korea, and the region of Taiwan following approximately one week afterward.

This is a curious development. Patch 3.3.5 has been undergoing PTR testing for a couple of weeks now, but there has not been any testing yet of the new Battle.net 2.0 communications interface. As many of you know, this interface will allow players to keep their 'friends list' via Real ID and monitor the status and chat with their friends across games including Starcraft II.

Since this change affects multiple platforms, not just WoW, they'll be phasing the system in at a different time. Unfortunately for players overseas they're going to have to wait a week to get the patch. This will no doubt have guilds seeking world first titles in the Ruby Sanctum up in arms, but what can you do?

It's also interesting to note that Starcraft II will be going down for Battle.net upgrades beginning next week. It's highly likely that those upgrades and the release of SC2 will coincide with the release of 3.3.5 so we could be looking at a patch as soon as early July.

Zarhym (Link)

We have found that most players using the Dungeon Finder don’t use the Vote Kick feature or abandon groups very often. For these players, we are removing the cooldown on voting to kick players from a dungeon party. In contrast, those players who tend to kick players or abandon groups more frequently will notice that the Vote Kick feature maintains its cooldown. The goal here is to make sure players who are generally patient can make use of the Vote Kick feature when they really need it, without giving a more powerful tool to those who try to kick others or abandon dungeon groups very frequently.

This functionality will adjust itself as a player’s behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.

The Vote Kick system has been controversial since the beginning, and a change like this was a long time coming. This change will essentially reward players that vote kick only when necessary rather than doing it maliciously while providing protection against griefers. Good change here.


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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