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

Happy April Fool’s Day! This week, the Convert to Raid crew get the information you need about the game you love! A new WoW Source video with Morgan Webb is coming soon, this time talking about PvP and class changes direct from the game designers. But could there be a leak at Blizzard HQ? The guys intercept some fantastical information with the upcoming changes! If you could blacklist a couple of 5 man dungeons, would you? Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas pondered this on Twitter, which turned into an online poll! But could dungeon blacklisting be bad for the World of Warcraft? Some new tools are being developed by names we already trust! Ask Mr. Robot will be revealing their brand of combat logs soon, and Wowhead.com just unveiled their class guides for new and boosted 90s. What do they bring to the game, and who are they trying to connect with?   All of that, plus a discussion on professions in WoD, your questions, and more on another intriguing show!

This week, Koltrane and Pat Krane welcome Derevka for a very fun and informative show on all the latest in World of Warcraft! Siege of Orgrimmar has been out for over six months, and  this is the longest we’ve ever had to wait for new content in the history of WoW. Was this a communication breakdown between the developers and the rest of the WoW community, did something go wrong, or is this “working as intended” according to the development plan? Blizzard has made the wait a little easier, however. This week, Blizzard announced that normal and heroic raiding were both going cross realm. Is this move so that raid teams can recruit for Mythic raiding in Warlords, or did the devs do this to try and extend the life of Siege of Orgrimmar? The crew takes a look at the pieces and give you their insights on these issues and a lot more in another jam packed show!

This week, Blizzard released the Warlords of Draenor pre-purchase along with the boosts to level 90, but have they caused more issues for raiders in the World of Warcraft? The Convert to Raid crew takes a look into how the new 90s have made their impact on LFR and Flex, along with how much we can expect to pay for the next expansion and when we can expect it. Could flight not come to Draenor in the next expansion? Blizzard developer Alex Afrasiabi discussed it in a recent interview, and the CtR gang finds some surprising results from their chat room. Plus, the guys tackle questions on raid and guild leadership issues, news from other Blizzard games, and a bunch more in this week’s show!

This week CtR tackles the latest Dev Watercooler released just a couple of days prior, this one talking about health pools and healing for Warlords of Draenor. The guys break it down and try to keep it all in context for what it could mean for the next expansion.  Plus, a new video was published on YouTube (on the Warcraft account) about the level 90 boost being available, yet it hasn’t made it’s way to the World of Warcraft site. What does this mean, and when will it be available in game? And the guys answer a ton of viewer questions, including one about how to examine combat logs during raid. The crew gives you the 411 on some of the key information to look at as well as some great addons to try out.

This week began the “info dump” from Blizzard, and the guys at Convert to Raid have you covered with tons of information and some really bad jokes. The latest blog article from Blizzard discusses the process behind a lot of the upcoming changes for Warlords of Draenor, including the stat squish, racial bonus changes, ability pruning, crowd control changes, and more. While the article itself is more general, a couple of developers took to Twitter to give much more detailed information, and the crew helps sort it all out. What do these changes mean for raiders in World of Warcraft? How will your game be impacted as we head into the next expansion? These changes show a marked difference in the mindset of Blizz, but are they dumbing down WoW or making gameplay choices more interesting? Plus, we answer several viewer questions, talk about our raid team’s expansion, the WoW Insider cutbacks and more!

This week’s Convert to Raid revealed some interesting possibilities for the future of the World of Warcraft! Patch 5.4.7 dropped, and a few key problems forced Blizzard to have more realm maintenance later in the week. Not only were addons like OQueue broken, but mounts from the Blizzard store went missing as well. The hubbub had people on the forums threatening to unsubscribe (and more), but now players may have more mounts than they know what to do with. Directly after the patch landed on Azeroth, the Blizzard in game store contained a character boost to level 90 for a whopping $60 US. The guys will give you their take on the price and whether or not they plan making a purchase or two, especially if their raid team needed the help. Blizzard developers held international press events over this last week, and one of the revelations dropped was that a silver medal in Proving Grounds may be a prerequisite for Heroic Dungeons in the next expansion. The more casual players shouldn’t be affected by this change too

  The Convert to Raid crew are back in action to give you the hottest news for raiders in World of Warcraft! This week, Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas dropped a ton of news, including some minor nerfs to the 10 man heroic version of the Garrosh encounter. While this has been an issue for awhile, now is the time to make some adjustments to ensure that the difficulty between 10 and 25 is better aligned. The Challenge Mode dungeon “season” is ending soon, according to Blizzard. But did anyone ever tell the general public that this was a “season” in the first place? Why did Blizzard pull the plug? How have players been reacting to the news, and how can Blizzard improve on this scaled 5 man content in Warlords? And finally, reported just before this show recorded, patch 5.4.7 should be landing this week in the World of Warcraft! This new patch brings the start of the next PvP season, several class changes and preparation for the Level 90 Boosts and Pre-Order for Warlords of Draenor. Not everything may b

This week, they CtR crew looks into their crystal ball to see the future of World of Warcraft! PvP Season 14 is ending soon, but why would raiders care? According to Blizzard, we could be seeing the end of this season in the next couple of weeks, with patch 5.4.7 soon to follow. Included in the patch should be pre-purchase of Warlords of Draenor, the free boost to 90 and much more. And if the next PvP season is around 20 weeks long, when will we be seeing the next expansion? And when should we be finding out more about the release of the beta? The guys will give you their predictions! WoW subscription numbers are… up? According to Blizzards quarterly earnings call, Q4 saw an increase of 200,000 subscribed members. This is definitely a surprise to many in the community. Can it all be traced back to Blizzcon, or is there something else in the works? And will Blizzard be able to retain these numbers? In the prepatch to Warlords, expect a raiding shakeup! Ion Hazzikostas, Lead Encounter Designer for Blizzard said

This week, Pat Krane and Dairies welcome special guest Sloot from top ranked guild Midwinter, and they discuss difficulty levels for all kinds of encounters for Warlords of Draenor! Lead Encounter Designer Ion “Watcher" Hazzikostas talked with several community members from the EU, touching on the resurrection of heroic 5 man content and what kind of difficulty we might expect for the upcoming expansion.   Along with that, Watcher mentioned that there may be alternate ways to gear up to similar ilevels to Looking For Raid, possibly through challenge modes. With all of the new opportunities Blizzard is giving players for loot in WoD, does that spell the demise of LFR or will it make playing the game more flexible and fun for everyone? Mythic mechanics are getting freshened up too, according to Hazzikostas. The crew discusses how Blizzard could accomplish it, giving examples of what makes a good (and bad) raid encounter. And finally, Sloot and the guys take an in depth look into what raid leaders should consid

This week, Blizzard banned a TON of accounts (unofficial numbers in the hundreds of thousands) for botting programs that enhance gameplay, and some WoW players were caught in the crossfire. The CtR crew explains how these third party programs work, and what other programs may have been suspect. But was Blizzard biting the hand that feeds them, or is their tolerance for cheaters really that low? Ion Hazzikostas announced that Blizzard is pretty happy with the bonus roll system for loot that was developed in Mists of Pandaria, but are you? Are there improvements to be made, or do the limitations feel appropriate? The human female artwork revamp was released this week, and Koltrane explains why Blizzard should think about clothing their models, and why his coworkers are avoiding him at the water cooler. More raiding stats were released this week from MMO-Champion about class popularity in heroic Siege of Orgrimmar, and the CtR crew weeds through the data to get to the important stuff.  Plus, the Warcraft movie f

This week, former Blizzard lead developer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street revealed his new gig at Riot Games. While the CtR gang were sure that was the most likely scenario, there was someone we have to thank for cracking the case -- Mr. Magoops, Cat Detective. And we’ll even play his story! Big news broke on the World of Warcraft website: digital copies of Warlords of Draenor will be available SOON™ for pre-order. And when you purchase, you’ll receive the pet, the mount, and even your free boost to 90. Blizzard also hinted that the closed beta will be coming in the next several weeks as well.  While everyone is excited about this, there are some words that bring up concerns of when WoD will actually drop. Siege of Orgrimmar is getting some nerfs this week, and Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas took to the forums to reassure raiders that these will only be targeted nerfs on several of the last encounters of the raid. Most nerfs are to smooth out progression further or help 10 man teams getting stuck on spe

This week the guys have plenty to talk about as everyone from Blizzard seems to have finally come back from the winter break! More raiding stats are unleashed on the internet as MMO-Champion takes a look at heroic progression. Only 0.23% of active raiders have downed heroic Garrosh, but what does that mean in the scheme of things? Blizzard’s Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas joined Twitter this week and had plenty to say about some of the upcoming plans (or lack thereof) for the future of raiding. But is short form social media a good thing for players looking to glean some insight, or is it all too much noise for the average consumer? Hazzikostas did state via Twitter that there were no plans for a raid-wide nerf in Siege of Orgrimmar. The players discuss whether (and when) they think it’s going to come, and how big of an influence Flex Raids are in the equation. Also, with the flexible raiding system and the proposed Group Finder tool for Warlords, where does LFR fit in the next expansion? The guys te

Happy New Year from Convert to Raid! The guys kick off 2014 with an extremely informative show, so get ready! WoWProgress.com released a series of statistics comparing Siege of Orgrimmar to Throne of Thunder, both with the number of players and guilds downing bosses and the number of players still considered “active.” Pat, Dairies and Koltrane make sure to compare apples to apples as they sort out the numbers to figure out whether or not WoW is losing raiders. A bomb was dropped from Chadd “Celestalon” Nervig on Twitter -- there will be no primary stats on gems for the next expansion! What does that mean for players, and more importantly, what does it mean for Jewelcrafters?  What should we expect in Warlords, and should the Blizzard developers be rethinking the way professions work? If you made a new year’s resolution to be a better raider (or raid leader), the CtR crew has got you covered!  You’ll get an in depth discussion of how raiders and raid leaders can improve their preparation, performance, attit

This week, the crew has their yearly Winter Veil special, talking about all of the latest WoW news, playing some of their best bits from the year, and more! There is no more “magic number” in flex raiding as the developers have released their plan for Warlords of Draenor a little early. Now flexible raiding is even more flexible, minimizing perceived encounter breakpoints with a system that better scales to each group size.  While some mechanics in Siege of Orgrimmar won’t scale as easily as others, there shouldn’t be a strong need to keep flex teams to a certain number of members. The Warcraft movie announced two more actors joining the fray, with Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown.  Both are veteran actors well known for action, so the players are getting amped up to think about the possibilities for this epic film. The guys then turn the show over to you, as they take calls and answer your questions! Not only will the cast reveal fun information about themselves, but also talk about gear in SoO, discuss raiding

This week, Pat Krane and Koltrane welcome Derevka (from Something Wicked, Whisperwind US) back to the show to talk about the latest happenings in World of Warcraft! The 5-Man Dungeons of Warlords of Draenor are put under the CtR microscope as a new post on the EU forums went up about difficulty levels proposed for the next expansion. Is there a way that Blizzard can create meaningful, long lasting 5-man content for raiders, and how will it stack up against other VP grinds like scenarios?  The guys take a look at the issue from several different angles, coming up with some possible solutions. The recently disbanded guild is planning to rejoin the top raiding guilds in the world for Warlords, but will their new, more casual plan be a help or a hinderance for their rankings?  Plus, as a ton of 10 man teams like Paragon venture into Mythic content, what will that do for the race to world first? Derevka, Pat and Koltrane also talk in depth about healing, including healing meters vs. performance, discipline pr

This week, the guys are back for another look at the latest buzz in the WoW community! The Warcraft movie announced some of their cast members this week including Rob Kazinski, who claims to have a huge WoW background and plays a mean DK.  How important is it for our crew that the cast and crew of the movie play World of Warcraft?  Is there a meaningful difference to us if these guys are fans of the movie magic they’re producing? Armory Stats show (as reported by MMO-Champion) that raiding numbers in Mists of Pandaria have dropped steadily over the expansion, with only 10% of raiders completing Siege of Orgrimmar.  Has the luster of raiding worn off, is the pain and toxicity of LFR too much for players to handle, or is it just a matter of time before those numbers start climbing again? It was Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street’s last day last week, so how can we welcome the newest guy (Celestalon) to the forefront of the Blizzard community?  By blaming him, of course… for everything! Raegwyn is back at downing bo

Covert to Raid #121 - Ghostcrawler Calls It Quits! This week on CtR, Treckie from the top guild in the world (Method) joins Koltrane and Pat Krane to talk about the latest news and views from around World of Warcraft, including a big shake up at Blizzard Entertainment! Greg Street announced that after almost six years as Lead Systems Designer he’s calling it quits and moving on to new (as yet undisclosed) opportunities.  The guys discuss what Ghostcrawler has meant to the WoW Community over the years, and Koltrane’s cat left some clues as to where he might end up.  Plus, the guys take a stroll down Memory Lane to their favorite G.C. moments. It may have been a short work week here in the U.S., but Community Manager Crithto released a huge post on gearing and stats for Warlords of Draenor.  Will gearing be simplified for the next expansion, or will it be just as confusing?  The guys discuss some interesting developments and what it could mean for players at the end game. A warlock from Russia (YouTube handle

Happy Pilgrims Bounty!  This week: Pat Krane, Koltrane and Dairies dig a little deeper into some of the new features revealed at Blizzcon in a very fun show with a couple of classic CtR bits just in time for Turkey Day. A new post-Blizzcon video with the devs has surfaced, and with that come some new insights to Mythic Raiding, and the guys take a look at the pros and cons of the new system from all types of raid difficulties. More information on garrisons was revealed through the interview, including why they weren’t implemented for guilds.  But what does the CtR crew want and expect from such a feature? Plus, more on armor changes from Ghostcrawler, speed kills now on WoWProgress.com, patch 5.4.2 and you, and we get to a ton of viewer questions. Plus, Dairies moves west, Pat gets shushed, and Koltrane loves your brains.

The boys are back from their adventures in Anaheim, mostly recovered from the Con Crud, so let's talk some WoW and have some fun! Zhug, Koltrane and Dairies will bring you through their Blizzcon experiences, into the parties, talking to the developers, along with their reactions to all of the new things that Warlords of Draenor will bring to WoW. On the docket: garrisons, inventory updates, new lore, armor changes and, of course, the huge upcoming RAIDING changes introduced by Blizzard. Along with all of the information and insights, there's also plenty of fun... so get ready for another jam packed show!

In a very special episode of CtR, the guys are gearing up for Blizzcon 2013! In preparation, they take a look back at the last Blizzcon and see if Mists of Pandaria lived up to the expectations from the presentations of Chris Metzen, Scott Mercer, Cory Stockton, Mike Morhaime and other developers back in 2011. And then they turn to look to the future, guided in part by predictions from our listeners! Plus, LFR nerfs, addon issues, Connected Realms and missing characters, and a whole bunch of fun!