Convert To Raid Presents: The Podcast For World Of Warcraft And Other Blizzard Games!

This week, the CtR crew has the latest on what’s happening in WoW — so buckle up! Blackrock Foundry Raid Finder Wing 4 was released this week, and experiences were varied. While some groups struggled, others breezed through in minutes to make this one of the shorter raid content releases in Warlords of Draenor. What makes for some of the differences, and what can you do to help make this a smooth fight for everyone? The WoW Token is coming soon™ according to Blizzard, and with the latest patch have created a WoW Token area in the Auction House user interface. Though it’s not live yet, once trading begins you’ll be able to purchase a token for $20 USD. But what will the selling price be? MMO-Champion.com released more raiding stats direct from the WoW Armory to examine completion rates of raids in Warlords. How does this compare with raiding in Siege of Orgrimmar and other past raids? Are we seeing a growing trend in the end game?   Plus, we have a ton of reaction from our last show, your questions and more to

This week’s show leads to some very fun and controversial conversations… be prepared! Brian Holinka, Senior PvP Designer, took to Twitter this week asking: "Do you play WoW and Heroes of the Storm but you don't PvP in WoW? I'd love to hear why.” the CtR crew responds with an in-depth conversation trying to figure out what improvements WoW would have to make to capture the MOBA crowd and make PvP less of a daunting experience for players new to this aspect of WoW. Also, thanks to a listener question we try to tackle the topic of the new difficulty in raiding (that deals more with mechanics than purely player power). Does this switch in player responsibility mean that teams need to better manage their expectations, and how should raid leaders proceed through this new era of raiding? The Blackrock Foundry item increases arrived this week as promised…or did they? What kind of an increase can you expect from the change?   Plus, we congratulate Olivia Grace for her new position with Blizzard, catch up with Dairies

The CtR crew welcomes special guest Affinity from Midwinter (World 3rd, US 1st in Blackrock Foundry) to the show! The big news this week was all about Blizzcon, as Blizzard announced that the behemoth event will be held November 6th and 7th in Anaheim, California. With that announcement, players from around the world have already secured their stays, selling out surrounding hotels in hours! Where will you be staying that weekend? With Affinity on the show, we couldn’t help but talk all about Mythic raiding. We take a look at which teams have crossed the finish line, and which teams have thrown in the towel — including his former team, Blood Legion. Also, Affinity discusses his transition into Midwinter and what it was like raiding with his new team. Blizzard is making some small but important changes to the item levels of loot in BRF, increasing all raid drops by 5 ilevels retroactively. The guys discuss the change and what it may mean moving forward.   Plus, the WoW Token, Wing 3 of LFR opens, Blizzard Strea

This week, the CtR crew dig in to patch 6.1 and cover Blizzard’s recent Q&A on Twitch! Patch 6.1 dropped on Tuesday, and now we ask whether or not everything has lived up to the hype. Have items like the SELFIE camera and garrison jukebox been good things overall, or are these just small quality of life improvements? Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas and Community Manager Josh Allen (a.k.a. Lore) took to Twitch this week to talk about dungeons and raids in World of Warcraft. A lot of ground was covered, from how many raid tiers we can expect this expansion to personal loot changes, a “Timewalking” feature and more. The crew will run through some of the most notable A’s to your Q’s and have a bunch of fun along the way.   Plus a neutral panda is about to hit level 100, more news from the race to world first, and more!

The race to world first in Blackjack Foundry is over, and Method has won! The CtR crew gives you all of the details inside, including overall standings, background on how teams prepare for the race and more. There’s a rumble in the community, one that states that there’s a lack of content in Warlords of Draenor. The guys begin the conversation with some of the pitfalls and successes of Warlords, but are the problems really much different than previous expansions? Are there any possible solutions to this perception issue?   Plus, more on patch 6.1, Ion Hazzikostas interview from Mamytwink, your questions and much more!

Mythic Blackrock Foundry kicks off this week, as does the race to world first! While there are returning favorites like Method, Paragon, and Midwinter, some teams have changed their rosters and upped their game to claim their spots amongst raiding royalty. The CtR crew lets you in on who are the surprises, and whether or not this raid tier will be finished by the end of this week’s lockout. The CtR War Room opens its doors for the first time this expansion to take a closer look at Blackrock Foundry, but of course with this crew it’s gonna get weird! Get ready to usher out the young ones as Convert to Raid presents another reading of 50 Shades of Raid. Hans’gar and Franzok are doing more than just trying to pound raid teams into the ground. They’re actually making players sick! Players are reporting headaches, confusion, vertigo and nausea from a combination of the moving conveyor belts and player movement. The guys will give you their take inside this show.   Plus, patch 6.1 and daily dungeon quests, WoD soun

This week, raid teams raced to Gorgrond as the Blackrock Foundry raid instance kicked off in normal and heroic modes. Initial impressions are good from player reports, and the encounters have some good variety to keep all kinds of different players challenged. Especially the trash! Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Game Designer on World of Warcraft, wrote a post that clarified the intentions behind the encounter difficulties and what players should expect as they clear bosses. The guys go over the details, give you their opinions, and provide some key information that could be important for your team. With the opening of the Blackrock Foundry, now raiders can finally get some Tier 17 gear in this expansion. But are the bonuses overpowered, or are they just “nice”? Plus, find out the worst part of the new gear (according to Pat Krane).   Plus, WoW Insider turns into Blizzard Watch, mounting up at level 1, your questions and a whole lot more!

This week, CtR welcomes Treckie back to talk about everything raiding and WoW! Blizzard posted a preview of all 10 bosses in the upcoming Blackrock Foundry raid (starting Feb. 3), and the guys talk about some of the encounters and what you can expect in this first tier of raiding. Treckie gives us his experience with some of the encounters and gives his tips on what your team may want to try first! There’s even more information coming out about Patch 6.1 now on the test realms (PTR). Along with an heirloom tab and heirloom upgrades for your alts, the BIG feature is that you’ll be able to summon a raid or world boss to your garrison! The guys give all the details and their views inside.   Plus, Treckie talks tank balance, taking a S.E.L.F.I.E. in game gets better, professions see some changes in 6.1, and the guys will even give some starting tips for how raid leaders can look at combat logs. All in this very fun episode of Convert to Raid!

This week, the CtR crew found out that Blackrock Foundry (the next raid instance) will be coming February 3, sooner than many players anticipated! While some are undoubtedly relieved to be moving on, is there concern that the beginning of this expansion is moving just as quickly as Mists of Pandaria? Or was Highmaul really supposed to be more of an introductory raid that would lead into the “real raiding” of Blackrock? There’s more information data mined from Patch 6.1 from the test servers, including character model updates, better colorblind options, and UI changes. But why are the Blizzard developers changing the male Night Elf run?   Also: Convert to Raid (the guild) celebrates their second anniversary, “Veteran Accounts” explained, how to take your team to the mythic level and what you can expect along the way, a technical look at resto druids, your questions and so much more!

The guys are back with a brand new show in the brand new year! Over the break, the last boss of the Highmaul raid was released in the Looking for Raid difficulty. Did LFR live up to the promise of Blizzcon 2013 as being “tourist mode,” or were there unexpected results? The CtR crew weighs in, and Dairies response may surprise you! Patch 6.1 hits the test realms, and the data mining has already gone deep! The guys will give you some of the big highlights, which include a Legendary garrison follower, a couple of new toys, a new mount, and more. Blackrock Foundry is also set to release around the time 6.1 should be hitting live servers in late February. How does the timing compare to that of Mists of Pandaria, and what do we know about this new schedule for raid releases? The 10th Anniversary events wrap up this week, but how have they been received? MMO-Champion.com released some statistics over the break, and the players will give you the low down. Will we see more content like this in the future, and was ther

The CtR crew is back for one last hilarious, informative show before 2015! The race to world first may be over, but not all of the top 20 have crossed the finish line. The guys check in on the standings, and tell you how Blizzard may have screwed it all up for the competition in Highmaul. Looking for Raid Wing 2 opened this week, named Arcane Sanctum, and features Tectus, Twin Ogron and Ko’ragh. LFR heroes are finding out that mechanics matter, and players are dying! So is this still “tourist mode,” or are we seeing a step up in difficulty? Blizzard announced several plans for patch 6.1 and beyond, like the new Blood Elf models, a Legendary follower for your garrison, a tab for heirloom items similar to pets and mounts, and being able to tweet from in-game. But there were some surprises in that announcement, like Blizzard announcing that they will be overhauling the UI so that people will be able to follow the action in War Games skirmishes! Soon™, tournament organizers may be able to have a true spectator mo

This week, Derevka joins Pat Krane and Koltrane to talk about all things World of Warcraft! Mythic Highmaul released on Tuesday, and that means we got to see our favorite bleeding-edge teams take on the most difficult versions of the new raid encounters. And this year’s competition has been exciting, with a real worldwide race to world first. The guys have the play by play and tell you why this is so interesting. Wing 1 of Looking for Raid difficulty also released this week, and the crew has some insight as to how a few different new features to Warlords really make LFR (and raiding in general) probably the best it’s ever been. As World of Warcraft Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut said in last week’s interview, some classes and specs got some adjustment this week before the mythic race. What are the initial findings? Do classes feel balanced enough, or is there another round of changes in the works?   Plus, a highlight of some key hotfixes, Death Knights creation requirements to go away, your questions and so

The CtR crew talks WoW with Blizzard’s Lead Game Developer Ion (Watcher) Hazzikostas, and Lead Class Designer Kris Zierhut. Inside, the guys talk garrisons, classes, flying in Draenor, stats, and of course… RAIDING! LFR and mythic raiding starts this week, and according to Hazzikostas, the team feels confident with the tuning of all the different difficulty levels. Both developers go further into tuning and what you can expect at different gear levels for your play style. Expect another round of class balancing before mythic raiding kicks off on Tuesday, as there are some classes and specs that aren’t performing as well as hoped. The guys get into some of the finer details, especially with those classes of some of our vocal community members. They also talk tanks and healers, secondary stats and more. And the CtR guys learn some fun extra things too! After the Molten Core 40 man LFR, will there be another classic raid released in this format? Probably not. There is a chance that Gnomes could be seeing some ne

It’s been well over a year since our last new raid in WoW, and the CtR crew cannot wait until the Highmaul raid opens on Tuesday (Dec. 2)! So the guys have a special introduction to all of the new bosses and what you might be able to expect when you meet them for the first time. Patch 6.0.3 landed this week, and there were a number of fixes and changes in Blizzard’s first attempt for better class balance this expansion. The gang will go over some of the bigger spell changes and talk about how it might affect your play.   Also, more tips and tricks for your Garrisons, early WoD stats from MMO-Champion, the new Blood Elf character models, and more on another fun-filled episode!

The CtR crew is back for another look at the latest news for raiders in World of Warcraft! Over the last week, the issues of the initial Warlords of Draenor launch have been addressed by Blizzard. Not only did J Allen Brack (Executive Producer and Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment) issue an apology, he topped it with five free days for the players that lived through it. Not only that, but in a press release Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft is back over 10 million subscribers — which may have been one of the big reasons behind the issues in the first place. This week WoW celebrates its 10th Anniversary, and the players get a refresher of that Classic WoW taste. There’s a new PvP zone for a limited time as players can relive their days of glory in Hillsbrad with Southshore vs. Tarren Mill, and something special for raiders. Molten Core has been updated for level 100 players as a 40 man in Raid Finder difficulty. There are no new mechanics, but if you never raided this at level it could prove qui

Warlords of Draenor released this week and players flooded through the dark portal into the new expansion. And, yes, there have been problems, including really long queues, DDOS attacks, downed servers and maintenance. But let’s talk about the content! The CtR crew will take you through their leveling experiences, giving you their take on quests, zones, bonus objectives, and surprises. Could this be the best expansion for leveling of all time? Plus, they talk about how players can gear up quickly after dinging level 100, which garrisons and outposts are most beneficial, and how raiders can more easily get ready for the release of the Highmaul raid.   Plus, the guys will recap Blizzcon — from the meet ups with friends to the lack of WoW news, Overwatch to the parties — reliving the fun of Anaheim. Get ready to have a blast on this week’s show!

As you prepare for Blizzcon 2014, we've got you covered with some of our best music and bits from Blizzcons past. Enjoy!

No, this isn't a full show, but there's a bunch of information we wanted to make sure that you had before heading to Blizzcon 2014! T Shirts will be available through Sunday the 25th at http://converttoraid.com so we can ship it out to you before the show.   SMASH Bash! (Convert to Raid, The Converted, Tauren Think Tank, The Starting Zone, My Epic Heals and more!) Friday, Nov. 7th 7-11pm Hilton Ballroom

This week, Treckie from the top raiding guild in the world, Method, joins Dairies and Pat Krane to talk about all of the new changes to Azeroth with the arrival of patch 6.0.2! Inside, the guys talk about some of the more interesting changes this week, including class balance (and Blizzard hotfixes), bugs in game, the leveling experience, and more. Siege of Orgrimmar has seen a huge nerf for Mythic difficulties, with record boss kills… so maybe now is the time for your team to hit this new difficulty! The add-on ElvUI was in the spotlight this week, as some code was discovered that could allow the developer to really change some players’ game. The gang will tell you what happened and what you should do to make sure it’s not affecting you. Plus, we talk to Treckie about Blizzcon, and how Method plans to defeat Midwinter in the World of Warcraft Raiding Panel! He reveals all of his secrets (not really) on how he plans to take them down in this exhibition/competition.    Also, Blasted Lands and UBRS, soloing leg

This week, Pat Krane, Koltrane and Dairies welcome lead game designer Ion Hazzikostas and senior game designer Brian Holinka to the show! Inside, they’ll discuss the upcoming changes for support classes, Ashran and PvP, raid encounters, class balance, and more. This week Blizzard announced the raiding panel for Blizzcon. Ion Hazzikostas gives us the inside scoop on which teams will be playing in this exhibition and what encounters they’ll be facing. Also, the guys chat about garrisons and the end game, professions, crowd control changes and diminishing returns, the legendary ring for Warlords, and a ton of listener questions. It’s all inside this very full episode of Convert to Raid!