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

With about a month until Blizzcon and the next expansion for World of Warcraft, the CtR crew gets you ready for the 6.0 pre patch and beyond! Blizzard announced the close of many different seasons in the next couple of weeks — Arena and Rated Battleground Season 15, Brawler’s Guild and Challenge Modes Season One — which means a lot of new beginnings are right around the corner. The Warlords of Draenor patch 6.0.2 is also downloading in the background, so clear some room out of your PC, as you’ll need about 10GB or more for all the new stuff! The crew also talks through the dungeons you’ll face in the next expansion. Will 4 dungeons be enough, or will garrisons and the rest of the new questing process take the pressure off of instances for leveling?   Also, Titan is cancelled by Blizz, the Road to Blizzcon, Brawler’s Guild Season Two, your questions and more in this very fun show!

This week, the guys at Convert to Raid learned that players will be losing out on some key items in patch 6.0.2 (coming soon™). For example, with the pre-patch, players will no longer be able to start the legendary cloak quest. And come the expansion in November, the cloak quest will be taken out completely. What does this mean for raiders, especially those switching their mains for Warlords of Draenor? Also, Justice Point Heirloom vendors will be taken out of the game for a bit as the brains at Blizzard come up with a new system (since Justice and Valor will be taken out as well). If you don’t have them all by now, it’s time to get them while the getting is good! And Ion “Watcher” Hazzikostas took to the forums to explain the mentality behind all of the changes to healing in Warlords, giving players a little more insight to how things should work in the near future. However, the balancing act isn’t quite there yet, so get ready when the pre-expansion patch drops in the upcoming weeks! Also, character names r

This week, pre-expansion patch 6.0.2 lands on the PTR! The guys take a look at all the PTR has to offer versus the beta. Not only will there be Mythic raiding of Siege of Orgrimmar, but there are a number of quality of life improvements, class changes, and more. The bonus roll will still be a thing in Warlords of Draenor, and our friends over at Icy Veins put together a guide on how to get them. Four ways to get your three weekly rolls are through quests from Ashran (don’t worry, only one involves PvP), and you can also get them through your garrisons. Find out how in this episode. As discussed last week, garrisons will also be able to give raiders more loot! We have clarifications from developers Tom Chilton and Ion Hazzikostas on what type of loot to expect, and how often we can expect them.   Also, we’ve got more info on the 10 year anniversary celebration of WoW, class changes on the beta (including tanks and DKs), your questions and so much more. Enjoy!

This week, Derevka joins Pat Krane and Koltrane for a very fun show with news direct from the Warlords of Draenor beta! Tanks have been very strong in the beta so far, and according to Chadd “Celestalon” Nervigg’s recent post, too strong. To avoid “power creep,” tanks will be getting many of their abilities reduced in effectiveness, essentially making them more squishy. Of course this will be done for all tanks, and creature damage will be reduced to offset the issues. What does this mean for tanking and healing for raiders, and will it change game play overall? Game Developers Cory Stockton and Dave Kosak joined Community Manager Josh “Lore” Allen for a live Q&A session on Twitch this week. While many of the answers revolved around leveling up with your garrisons, there were a number of things of interest to raiders.  For example, there are some interesting ways to get loot in WoD. One way is through garrison missions, where you might be able to get new gear and even upgrade the gear you already have. Th

This week, the beta continues to get a workout, and the CtR crew is tracking the action for you! LFR for Warlords got a first look on the test servers, and it was… LFR. Not quite what the developers promised at Blizzcon with “Tourist Mode," but they also mentioned that in this first pass it was probably overtuned. If the LFR doesn’t change significantly, however, how will that translate into how these different difficulties are used by WoW players? Mythic raiding also got a workout on beta, with 6 bosses being tested this week. With the speed that developers seem to be going, the November release date looks solid. But what is the process, and will we see these bosses being tested again? Also, more interviews have been released from Tom Chilton at Gamescom, and one of the big bombs he dropped was that Warlords may only see two raid tiers instead of the usual three, depending on the next expansion. Does that seem too fast, or are you okay with a “shorter” expansion?   Also, Play with the Blues, Choppers hit Aze

The CtR crew is back, and this week we debate the latest big news from Blizzard! At a “mini-Blizzcon" event in Los Angeles, Mike Morheim, Ion Hazzikostas, Brian Holinka and Chris Metzen took the stage in a huge lifestream event to announce the upcoming release of Warlords of Draenor. Not only did they show the new cinematic, but also gave more details on what’s to come for the next expansion, along with a release date of November 13, 2014! There is a lot of varying opinion on all of the information from the event, even within the CtR crew! Tom Chilton gave several interviews at GamesCom to talk about Warlords after the announcement in Germany, giving more specifics (and spoilers) that have sparked even more discussion and controversy within the WoW community. The guys go toe to toe on everything this week, including on the cinematic, the 6.0 pre-expansion patch, the final boss of WoD, and even the 10th anniversary celebration announcement and more! It’s another fun-filled show on Convert to Raid!

This week, Blizzard announced something that surprised no one: the Alliance bike from Azeroth Choppers will be available in game as well as the one from the Horde! But the Alliance bike will be available for purchase from a vendor, and no specific price tag was mentioned. While at Blizzcon, developers said that not all races would be reworked by the time Warlords was released, but they will manage to rework every race except for Blood Elves. With all of the artwork that is new and improved for WoD, can anyone blame them? (If you read the forums, the answer is yes.) Speaking of forums, one post got a lot of attention this week on the World of Warcraft forums that contained a lot of bad information. The CtR crew gives its own unique take on this to help set the record straight with a little reenactment with a special guest!   The gang will also give you the synopsis of the dungeons available right now on the Warlords of Draenor beta as well as a brief look at some of the raid testing that’s been going on this w

This week marked the first public raid testing in the beta, and the CtR crew was there… kind of. When Blizz tried testing Gruul and The Butcher, the servers were having some stability issues. Many raid testers were outraged that something that is being tested as a beta had failed. Down servers added to the fact that the first two bosses released for testing have been a part of Blizzard games before sent the flames to the forums and Twitter. On Friday, Blizzard was set to have more raid testing, but this came to a halt after a real life fire in Irvine shut down the power substation. While power was restored that morning, the developers postponed the test. The patch notes for Warlords of Draenor revealed that Hunters will be getting Aspect of the Fox again, this time retooled into a 6 second raid wide cooldown! Feral druids are getting a little bit a love from the devs with a level 100 talent that can transform your cat into Saberon form. Thunder Cats are go!!!!   Also, we’ll have the latest news about Ashran,

This week the CtR crew returns for another fun filled show! The Heart of the Valorous goes live again, but why did Blizzard only make it available over a weekend and not during the rest of the week? And will valor caps increase any time soon so that we can upgrade more than one piece of armor per week? Warlords beta patch notes have been released! The crew gives you some of the highlights and tries to calm you down as the game continues to be developed. The guys also discuss the feedback process for all of these changes and how that works with the communication from Blizzard to its players. Want to know more about how your Garrison will work in Warlords? Wowhead.com recently posted all of their datamined information about garrisons, including an in depth look at the buildings that you’ll be able to choose from. How will these buildings help your gameplay? Are there any overpowered perks from these buildings? Find out inside! Also, Rob Pardo, Chief Creative Director for Blizzard Entertainment, is leaving the c

This week, Blizzard turned the Warlords of Draenor alpha into the Warlords of Draenor betal, allowing more people access to test server stability. And the CtR crew was there to check it all out. Aside from lots of crashes and bugs, there were a bunch of changes to explore! Tanaan Jungle, the entry point in the next expansion, appeared in the latest build. Khadgar, Thrall and others will test your meddle, unless of course you’re decked out in heroic gear from Siege of Orgrimmar. The guys will give you a glimpse into the action, and tell you what awards await. Some players may be feeling left out in the cold in the beta process, however. The crew takes a look at some of the issues with the beta invite process, and takes you through the timeline as it appeared on Twitter. Another sticking point for some players this week — faction capitals. Blizzard announced at Blizzcon 2013 that the faction capitals would be at Karabor and Bloodspire. But during the development process, and with the greater development of garr

The CtR crew is back for another fun show! This week, they look at some weird achievements, new loot for Warlords of Draenor, and more! The Gaze of the Black Prince is a new buff unleashed by Blizzard to help those on their quest for the legendary cloak. it essentially improves your chance for all of the collection quests in your adventures. But it only lasts for two weeks, ending June 30th, and is that enough time for those just starting down the path? And while Blizzard’s new buff certainly can help players, is this really a benefit to the community, or would it be best to make The Gaze last until 6.0? Shadowmoon Valley content was released in the WoD alpha, and while it looks really great, that doesn’t mean it’s very stable. Just as the crew went to hop online, there were critical errors taking down the servers for the weekend. But that doesn’t mean we can’t theorycraft! Monks and Warriors received some fine tuning with the latest alpha patch as well, including more ability pruning and some serious playsty

This week, the CtR crew takes a look at a bunch of changes on the Warlords alpha that have some players up in arms! Blizzard has removed active mana regeneration from the latest patch (6.0.1 Alpha), and healers are being forced into a more measured style of play. While the community reacts, the question remains on whether or not Blizzard thinks it’s sustainable for raiding in the future. Several classes were hit by ability pruning this week as Blizzard figures out exactly what each spec needs to survive in Warlords. Some of the changes seem kind of extreme or random, and the gang gives you the details and their reactions to them. Look out druids and shaman! Also, Blizzard is giving each spec a 5% secondary stat boost. This will not only to give players a little bit of protection from bad drops, but also to help players understand which secondary stats are best for them. But the crew is confused as to why it’s called an “attunement."   Also, the guys take a look at the latest mount to hit the Blizzard store, o

The gang is all back this week, and ready to charge into the fray of everything World of Warcraft! The friends and family alpha was released for Warlords of Draenor, and yes, the guys at CtR has been playing it. They cover all of their reactions to their in game experiences to give you some of the information you’ve been longing for! Inside this episode they cover questing, garrisons, characters, the new models, the available dungeon, the stat squish, spell changes, and many other aspects of the latest release. Also, the crew will take a look at why Blizzard released the alpha the way it has, which has left some long time players feeling left out in the cold. A recent developer watercooler article gave an inside look at the stat changes for Warlords. Koltrane, Dairies and Pat Krane take a look at some of the changes Blizzard has made since Blizzcon and why some changes needed to happen. Also, Azeroth Choppers comes to a conclusion, but was it as fulfilling of a season as the crew had hoped for? Plus, find out

Pat Krane and Koltrane are back, bringing in Treckie from Method (#1 ranked guild in the world) for another great show! Blizzard released their first blog post on garrisons, so the CtR crew examines some of the different features and systems of this new and expansive content for Warlords of Draenor. They discuss how player choices will effect how each character levels up to give them a somewhat unique experience, what you can expect from garrisons as you move about Draenor, and how followers can help you maximize your efforts. The Heart of the Valorous buff went out this last week, but it seems to have landed with a thud… at least with our panel. What do more upgrades and faster valor gains mean, and why did Blizzard feel the need to do it?   Also, actor Ben Foster speaks about his character in the Warcraft movie, Moonkin get a huge change in the Warlords alpha, old school raiding can help change things up for your raid team, and much more!

This week, Dairies and Pat Krane are joined by Zoopercat from Ask Mr. Robot to talk about the latest news in World of Warcraft! Patch 5.4.8 is on the PTR, and it's all about upgrades! Now you can upgrade your armor a total of 4 times. Is this a much needed improvement for players struggling, or is it a way to stretch Siege of Orgrimmar while waiting for Warlords of Draenor? It was revealed this week from Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas that the gearing path for Warlords will be similar to how it is now, with dungeon loot item levels beneath that of all difficulties of raid loot. But does that mean LFR is a concern for those raiders that usually tackle tougher content? And finally, the crew talks to Zoopercat directly about the newest addition to Ask Mr. Robot -- combat logs (currently in alpha). She gives some great insight to their approach for logs, some refreshing problems they're finding solutions for, and other items that may just blow your mind! Get ready for a great show! (Plus, some tech issue

Olivia Grace and Derevka both join Pat Krane this week for incredible discussions on the biggest news in WoW this week!   Blizzcon sold out in minutes, and the new Eventbrite system seemed to have mixed reviews from the thousands that logged in this week to buy. The crew talks about their ticket experiences with Eventbrite and try to figure out what will be at Blizzcon for World of Warcraft fans.   This week also saw the Q1 investor call from Activision Blizzard, where it was revealed that World of Warcraft has only lost 200,000 subscribers. Blizzard did employ some tricks like the Warlords pre-release and the boost to 90 program, but how long will this last without new content?   And in Raiding News, more information was released on the changes to raiding in 6.0, plus Ion Hazzikostas had another interview. The gang takes a look at all of the upcoming changes to give you the latest view on garrisons, raid lockouts, gearing, and much more on this very engaging show!

This week, the CtR crew takes a look all the news that was raiding in Warlords of Draenor! Ion Hazzikostas, Warcraft’s Lead Encounter Designer, had a few posts discussing the raiding mindset over the history of the game as well as looking into the future of Warlords. On top of that, he also sat down with Olivia Grace for an hour long talk all about the upcoming raiding changes. The guys discuss not just the topics brought up like raid lockouts, loot, LFR changes, group finder, garrisons and more, but also try to dig into the details to try to find out how raiding will change in the next expansion. It’s a great conversation, and one you shouldn’t miss!

Koltrane, Pat Krane and Dairies are back in action after a week off, catching you up on all things WoW! Announced earlier this week, Blizzcon 2014 will be taking over Anaheim this November 7th and 8th, and the guys give you the lowdown on nearby hotels, ticket prices, and more. There are new prices and a new system for buying tickets (now through Eventbrite), so listen up if you’re thinking of going! The latest WoW Source video hit the WoW website this week as well. Discussing mostly PvP, there were a few key items concerning raiders, like a potentially great new system for raid testing going into Warlords. Plus, active mana regen is back on the menu for healers, find out why Pat Krane is nervous about garrisons, Dairies explains how to get all of the achievements in WoW, and Koltrane gets hassled by gnomes. Plus, your questions and a whole lot more in another amazing show!

There are lots of little things happening with Blizzard right now, and it gives the gang some time to recuperate from their big interview last week with Celestalon and Zarhym. So this week Koltrane and Pat Krane welcome Treckie from the #1 guild in the world, Method, and together they take a look deeper into the Warlords of Draenor alpha patch notes. There’s some important items that weren’t gotten to last week, so they fill in some of the facts that dropped through the cracks!   Also, Blizzard packs PAX East full of beta codes, Naxxramas hits Hearthstone, Alliance vs. Horde in Azeroth Choppers, new models and animations, and your big questions of the week!

Convert to Raid #138 - Celestalon and Zarhym Interview! This week, Blizzard joins the CtR crew with Technical Game Designer Chadd Nervig (Celestalon) and Community Manager Jonathan Brown (Zarhym)! Over the course of two hours, the guys uncover more information about the Warlords of Draenor alpha.   It doesn’t matter what role you play, or your class or spec. We’ve got something for everyone in this jam packed interview! Covered inside: • Garrisons • Scenarios and Challenge Modes • Raid encounters • Warlords Alpha basics and how it will roll out • New character models • Draenor Perks • Overall philosophies for tanking, healing and dps • Raid utility   • More details on every single class!