^yea, this.

all it did was reduce the amount of time you spent looking stuff up. for example, the first time i rolled a horde toon and had the quest to go in WC and get those little plant things (serpent bloom? w/e) i ran the place twice and never got any, i figured it wasn't a drop and it was hard to see/find. so i went to wowhead, looked it up, saw the screenshot and got it done.

it doesnt really dumb it down, the game isnt an intellectual one to begin with, it just lazy's it up

@Jordrah

I guess I got lucky. Serpentbloom shows up on the minimap for herbalists! :D

I was always conflicted about this in the past. I hated it when I'd ask about something and I'd get a half-dozen /w to look on Thottbot. Granted, for experienced players those questions are annoying. For a new player, though, the "look on Thottbot" answer was equally annoying. After all, it is a Massively Multiplayer game.

It sort of breaks the 4th wall to look something up online while you're playing, as do the glowing effects. I think it comes down to which is more acceptable? For me, it's the glowing items.

On a related note, I think it's sad that more people don't "play" the game. So many people seem to think it's so serious. They have no patience, no sympathy, and seem to have no fun at the same time.

I really like the shiny stuff. Ask any of my guildies. Shiny is distracting and lovely. But it could be simply too much - I enjoyed the object search portion (WoW does, after all, have a variety of activities that appeal to each person in a different way), so I kind of miss the effort involved.